Codename: ARTEMIS
by Len.chan
Summary: After Alex is badly wounded, scaring the hell out of all her family and friends, Winn decides that it's time to do something about it.
1. Almost gone

_Some notes:_

 _This could be considered a sequel for "The hidden face of the moon", specifically Winn's chapter and, althought you don't need to read that to follow this story, it gives an insight at how the relationships are going to work and why Winn does what he does._  
 _This is unbeta'd because I'm too lazy. If I hurt your eyes too much, please, feel free to say it on the comments (and if you like the story you can say it, too. It will take two seconds and will brighten my day.)_

* * *

 **Almost gone.**

The first thing Alex remembers when she opens her eyes, is the excruciating pain of a bullet piercing her stomach. A bullet that went through her highly advanced bulletproof vest as if it was only a thin layer of silk. Then, all went black. Honestly? She's surprised to still be alive.

She tries to move, but her whole body is sore and Alex groans in pain.

"Oh thank God!" She hears a male voice beside her and someone approaching the bed, "Careful, careful. Don't move! I have to call a doctor, a-and Kara, and your mom, and Maggie! I'll go get..."

With great effort, Alex grabs his hand to make him stop babbling.

"Winn?" Alex can barely open her eyes. The light is too bright and the annoying sounds of the machines are drilling into her head, but even like that she can see his tired and puffy eyes watering rapidly, "Are you crying?"

Winn wants to say no, but he's choking and tears are rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm still here," She says. Alex smiles tiredly.

"But you weren't!" He raises his arm to wipe the tears with the sleeve of his shirt, "You... You weren't. We lost you, t-twice, and Kara almost kills one of the doctors, and John wasn't talking, and-and Maggie... she wouldn't leave your side when..."

A sudden gust of wind interrupts him and they both look towards the door, where Kara is standing still.

"I heard..." It's all she says, and Alex can hear her sister voice quivering. Kara sounds tired, broken, and relieved, all at once.

Alex, who is still holding Winn, squeezes his hand, and makes him look at her again.

"Could you go and find Maggie and my mom?"

"Of course! I'll tell J'onn and the doctors that you're awake, too. Do you need anything else?"

"Water would be nice."

Winn nods with a smile and runs out of the room, leaving the sisters alone.

Kara walks towards the bed in silence. She looks at the machines, staring at the steady rhythm that Alex's heartbeat draws on the monitor, almost as if she's fearing that something is going to go wrong any minute.

"How long?" Is the first thing that Alex asks.

"Three days."

"Uh, it feels like weeks." She groans.

"You lost a lot of blood," Kara is still not looking at her, maybe afraid that, when she does, Alex won't be awake, "Flatlined twice."

"Kara…" Alex needs to touch her sister, to hold her, to reassure her that she's okay, still alive. She reaches for Kara hand, "Kara, look at me."

And she does, and suddenly Alex feels lost in a blue as clear as the sea in a summer day back at her mom's home.

"You are always so brave, so strong, that sometimes I forget that you're only human, that I could lose you to something so stupid as a bullet."

"But you didn't."

Alex knows that it's been a close call, too close. She watches as the tears start rolling down Kara's cheeks, and a knot forms in her stomach, knowing that she really scared them this time. She's been hurt before, but it's always been broken bones, scrapes, she even has a scar on her left thigh, where the claws of one of the first hostiles she fought had wounded her. Alex was proud of those scars, they are proof of how hard she always works, but this bullet wouldn't leave a mark only on her skin.

"You were _dying_ , Alex. I have all these powers and I still couldn't do anything but watch you fade away!"

"Hey," She tugs at her sister's hand and smiles, "I'm not going to let something so mundane as a bullet finish me off, okay? I've got more style than that."

"You better, Danvers."

Maggie stares at her from the door, with a smile on her lips that doesn't quiet reach her eyes. She walks into the room followed by Eliza, and they end up standing at both sides of her bed. Her mother takes her hand and squeezes it hard, like she never wants to let it go again, while Maggie can't help but lean to kiss Alex's chapped lips.

After them, J'onn arrives with the doctor, who proceeds to explain everything that happened since Kara flew her sister into the med bay with a bullet hole in her stomach and losing blood at an alarming rate. Kara had been pacing outside the operating room, until she heard Alex heart stopping the first time and J'onn had to take her out of there before she killed someone. After that, she almost destroyed the Green Room, which now has an array of fist size holes on its walls. Maggie had been praying in silence, asking to anyone who might been listening, to not take Alex away from her. When Alex flatlined the first time, she had been completely frozen. The second time, it was her who bolted into the room and started threatening the doctors. She'd seen too many friends being taken away from her because of a bullet. Maggie wasn't ready to accept that it could take away her happiness, too.

While the doctor keeps talking about how it is almost a miracle that she's alive, and explains how important it is that she rests for some time to have a quick recover, Winn comes back with the water he promised. Alex stares at him while he walks around everyone in the room in complete silence, gives the water glass to Eliza, and backs out of the room again.

The doctor leaves shortly after that and only Kara, Eliza, Maggie and J'onn stay with her.

"What's wrong with Winn?" Alex asks.

"He took it really bad," Kara's voice sounds concerned for her friend too, "He insisted staying with you when neither of us could. Everyone here barely slept since you got injured, but I'm pretty sure that he hasn't touch a bed in the three days you've been on this one."

"Yesterday I caught him sitting next to your bed, bent over his laptop and completely out," Maggie says, "I guess he heard me, because he woke up suddenly, babbling about bots and shields, and antigravity? It was really cute," She smiles at the memory.

"You've been staying here, too?"

"Everyone has been staying here, babe. Even some of the agents have been doing double shifts to stay near in case you woke up."

Alex looks at J'onn to confirm what Maggie just said. He nods and walks closer to the bed, reaching to squeeze her shoulder gently.

"Everybody here is very fond of you, Alex, and you gave us quite a scare."

* * *

It's been two long days of being bedridden and Alex was going completely mad. She needed to get out of that room, breath fresh air, sleep in her own bed, preferably spooning her girlfriend, and not with Maggie drooling on a chair, however cute that was.

"The doctors said at least five more days here, babe."

"I'm sorry, but if I have to stay in bed and do nothing for two weeks, I'd prefer doing it in my own home. I'm starting to hate this place." Alex argues, "If I stay on this bed one more minute, I'll start biting people's heads off, and yours will be the first one, girlfriend or not."

"Okay, okay. At least let me bring you some clothes. You are not going around the DEO with your pretty ass on display."

When Maggie, with a smirk on her lips and murmuring how cute Alex looks when she's frustrated, leaves the room, she takes a minute to _finally_ breath.

It's been a couple of crazy days, with people going in and out of the med bay, taking turns to stay with Alex because no one wanted to let her alone more than five minutes. It's not like she doesn't appreciate all the concern, she really understands how scared her family and friends were, but Alex had spent so long without being the center of attention, that now that everybody was focused on her it was a bit overwhelming. The only one that seems to understand how she feels is Maggie, but even her girlfriend can't help but be a little bit clingy sometimes.

After Maggie comes back with a bag full of clothes, Alex tries to get dressed on her own, but she soon realizes that it's going to be an impossible task, because every time she moves her arms, a sharp pain reminds her of the wound in her stomach. She's stubborn, but not crazy, so she asks Maggie to help her and, slowly, she's finally able to put on a shirt and a pair of loose pants. Then she takes de bag again and starts looking for one last thing.

"Hey, have you seen my watch?" She asks frowning a little. Alex guesses that someone must have taken the watch off her wrist after she was brought into the DEO, but they should have put it with all her other stuff.

"The tactical one you always wear?"

"Yeah."

"Did you like that watch a lot?"

Alex doesn't like how that question sounds.

"Yes. J'onn gave it to me the first time I went into a field mission." She raises and eyebrow seeing that her girlfriend is hesitant to answer, "Maggie?"

"I'm sorry. It looked like you smashed it against something during the fight."

"Oh..."

"But!" She exclaims quickly, because Alex is starting to look very sad. "I saw Winn taking it. I think he's trying to fix it for you."

For a moment, she wonders if her girlfriend thinks that it's silly how attached she is to that stupid thing, but Alex really, _really_ hopes that Winn is as good with a watch as he is with a computer.

* * *

"Agents Danvers! What do you think you're doing?"

Alex stops frozen in front of the door of one of the labs. She was hoping to sneak into the DEO without J'onn noticing, asking everyone she crossed on her way to work to keep their mouths shut, but the martian proved again that he was smarter than that.

"You are forbidden to be here for at least four more days, Alex."

"I knooow. But I need to work, J'onn. I'm going crazy, my girlfriend is going crazy, and even Kara runs away from me now," She says desperate, "I just want to put on my lab coat, take a look at some samples, work on some reports... Nothing too strenuous, I promise."

"And you need your gun for that?" He asks pointing at the weapon on her thigh.

"Force of the habit?"

J'onn sighs.

"Lab duties. Nothing else. It's an order, agent Danvers."

"Yes, sir."

Twenty minutes later, she hears a knock on the glass outside the lab.

"Hey."

Alex raises her eyes from the microscope and finds Winn at the door.

"Hey," She smiles.

"Did you know that there are actually computers that can do that work and show on a screen whatever you're looking at through those little lenses?

"Yes, but I'm not in a hurry and I still like the old ways."

Winn nods and, with hesitant steps, walks into the room.

After she woke up, Alex noticed how Winn started avoiding staying around her for more than a couple of minutes. She doesn't need to ask him why, Alex knows guilt when she sees it.

"So, how's everything around here? Kara refuses to speak about anything work related."

"Pretty slow. It's almost as if the aliens know that you're on medical leave, because they've been lazy lately," He shrugs, "I even had time to fix your watch."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here, actually," He puts a hand inside his right pocket and gets out Alex's tactical watch looking as good as new, "Here, I know you're pretty attached to it."

"Thank you, Winn. Really," She beams at him, and immediately puts the watch around her wrist, frowning a little when she notices something different, "Did you do something to it? It feels a little bit heavier."

"Well, I...," He hesitates, "I may have added a couple of things, you know, stuff, like a-a GPS and maybe a la-laser?

"You put a laser on my favorite watch?"

"I..uh... I thought it could be... useful, you know?"

"How does it works?"

"You just push that little red button added at the side of the sphere."

"This one?" Alex asks at the same time that her finger goes over the button.

"No!" Winn yells, "Well, yes, it is that button, but don't use it here. J'onn will kill me if he knows that I gave that to you. He established a strict No weapons for Agent Danvers policy. At least until the doctors clear you for field missions."

"You are no fun, agent Schott."

"I'm plenty of fun! I build you a portable laser!" He objects totally offended, pointing at the device already on Alex's wrist, "I just don't want the rage of the Last Son of Mars falling on me," Winn crosses his arms and pouts, and she thinks it's adorable how much he resembles a little kid, " But if you want to get away from this boring lab stuff and do something else, I could show you the prototype for the new gear."

"New gear?"

"I've applied Guardian's suit technology to improve the vests, mostly. This time they _really_ are bulletproof. They're lighter, thinner, stronger..."

She sees his rambling as an opportunity to address the elephant in the room. Alex knows by the way he avoids her eyes, that Winn blames himself for what happened. It's not about the vest not being strong enough to stop that bullet, or that he's mad at Alex for jumping in front of him just in time. He was mad at himself because, if he had been fast enough, strong enough, _brave_ enough, Alex wouldn't have had to put herself at risk in the first place.

"Winn..," She says, placing a hand on his arm, "I would step in front of that bullet again if I had to. This job has its risks, and being shot is one of them, but better me than you. Always."

"No." He refuses to accept what Alex just said. But even if he looks serious and determined, Alex can hear his voice quivering, "You are _not_ getting hurt ever again. I can promise you that."

"What?"

"Just... Keep that watch always with you, okay? Just... just do that." Then, nervously, he retreats and leaves the lab without saying another word.

Alex stares dumbfounded at the door and then at the watch. Why was Winn so adamant that she'd wear it all the time? She unclasps again the strap around her wrist and takes a closer look at the sphere in her hand. At first sight the watch looks exactly the same, the only significant difference being the laser's little red button, but Alex has the feeling that there's something else, besides that and the extra weight, that she can't see. Then, she turns it around and finds something that _definitely_ wasn't there before.

The crest of the House of El is now engraved on the back case of her watch.


	2. Rising

_Still unbeta'd. Read at your own risk._

 _Also clarify that anything tech related that you are about to read has like a 5% of real scientific basis. Everything else is pure and wild imagination._

* * *

It happens two days before the doctors finally discharge her.

It's ironic, really, that after almost three weeks of having everyone breathing down her neck, and being forbidden of getting involved into anything considered slightly dangerous, she ends up being in the middle of a bank robbery, surrounded by scared hostages, with four armed men pointing at them, and with no gun or bulletproof vest to help her.

And no Supergirl either, because Kara is at the other side of the globe helping Superman with the aftermath of an earthquake, and there's no way she'll be back in time.

Alex studies the situation and the possible outcomes. The hostages are starting to get anxious, and she knows that she needs to call the DEO for help, but talking right now would alert the thieves and she can't assume that risk with so many people there.

There's a young woman at the other side of the room, with a little girl not older than three or four years in her arms. The child is starting to get restless and she's trying to calm her down, but they have already attracted the attention of one of the thieves that was already losing his temper. They've probably wanted this to be a fast job, but it was taking too long, there was already a lot of police gathered outside the bank, and a crying kid isn't exactly helping.

When the guy points his weapon at the woman and starts shouting at them, Alex instinct kicks in. She taps her communicator, gives a quick message to whoever is listening back at the DEO, and starts running towards the guy.

There's no way she'll reach them in time, but she has to try.

Something happens, something that she doesn't understand, because it's not humanly possible to be fast enough to jump between the woman and the bullet. But she does, and Alex feels the impact of the projectile against her ribs.

This time, she thinks, there's no getting out of it alive.

Time stands still and the world seems to be frozen, there's no other explanation, because there's no pain, no blood, nothing except the smoke coming out of the gun's barrel, and it doesn't make sense.

 _I should be dead._

Alex logical mind tells her that, at that distance, without a bulletproof vest, and given the point of impact, the bullet should have easily pierced her left lung, and she should be on the floor, drowning on her own blood by now. But she's not. She's standing in front of a dumbfounded man that is still pointing his gun at the hostages. She's still outnumbered by armed men, in a room full of innocent people, with still no backup, when _she should be already dead._

After what seemed like an eternity, she moves her hand to touch the place where the bullet struck her, and then is when she notices. The fog that has clouded her mind during those never-ending seconds is clearing, and Alex finally understands what is happening.

 _I'm going to kill Winn._

Because what she's touching is not the fabric of the shirt she was wearing. What she's touching is a strange, black material that she doesn't recognize, something that definitely wasn't there five minutes ago.

Alex doesn't have time to analyze whatever she's wearing, though, because there's a sudden burst of air and the next thing she knows, all four thieves are senseless on the floor and a perplexed green martian is staring at her.

"Something to share, agent Danvers?"

* * *

"WINSLOW SCHOTT JUNIOR!"

Every single head at the DEO's control room turns to the balcony at hearing the voice of a very, _very_ angry Alex Danvers, fearing for the life of their fellow agent. But who they found coming from the glass door is their director, with an amused little smirk on his lips that they don't usually see, walking behind a woman clad in some kind of black armor and wearing such an enraged expression that they even can see it behind the mask that it's covering her face.

"Oh my God! It worked!" They watch as agent Schott gets up from his chair and goes running excited towards de woman with agent Danvers' voice. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the angry eyes, though.

"Explain. Now."

"O-kay, okay, don't get mad," he says raising his arms in surrender, "Remember when I told you that-that you weren't going t-to get hurt again?"

"I knew you had done something else to the watch!" She barked while pointing at him, "What the hell is this thing?"

While Winn is hesitating to answer, the balcony door is opening again to let Supergirl inside the building. Kara walks down the stars and everyone in the room stays in silence.

"Hey guys," She greets. She's about to ask why there's stranger in a suit at the DEO, but then Kara realizes that the one under the mask is actually her sister, "Alex?"

Alex just grunts, grabs Winn by the collar of his shirt, and drags him away from the control room, followed by J'onn and Kara. She's not going to discuss whatever it's happening with everyone else there.

When they reach the training room, J'onn closes the door behind them, and waits for Alex to speak.

"Okay," She takes a deep breath, "First I need to know how to get out of this thing."

"You just need to…," Winn tries to reach Alex's arm, but she almost growls at him, "…just touch your wrist. Where the watch should be."

She's almost touching the spot where she usually wears her watch when Kara jumps in front of her, taking her hand to stop her.

"Wait!"

"Now what?" Alex's asks. She can feel her patience slipping away, but Kara doesn't care. She's still holding her sister's hand and staring at something on her chest.

"Winn? Is this why you asked me if I would care about Alex wearing my family's crest?" She asks while taking a closer look at the suit.

There, over her sister's heart, barely noticeable, and drawn in beautiful, dark, silver lines, rests a little House of El's crest. Mesmerized, Kara lets go of Alex, and raises her hand to trace the silhouette of the S with her fingers.

"I can't think of a better person to wear it." She finally raises her eyes to look at her sister and smiles.

"The symbol actually works as an activation command for the New Moon mode." Interrupts Winn.

"The what?" Both sisters ask at the same time.

"You know…, the stealth mode, like the new moon phase… when you can't see the moon? I think is pretty clever."

"Agent Schott," J'onn clears his voice and the three of them turn to look at him, "I think it would be better for everyone if you start explaining everything from the beginning."

"Yes! Yes, of course! Kara, could you go grab my tablet? It's on my…," But Kara is too eager to wait for him to finish the sentence, and she's gone and back before they can blink, giving Winn the device and urging him to continue, "…desk. Thanks. And Alex, you can deactivate the suit, now."

"Finally," She lets go an exasperated sigh and brings the index and middle finger of her left hand to touch the place where her watch should be.

There's a quick flash of light, blinding everyone except Alex for a second. When they open their eyes again, she's in front of them with normal clothes on and a frowned face.

"Woah! _That_ was intense," Winn says while he rubs his eyes, "I really I need to work on that deactivation protocol."

"What you need to do is explain why, in the middle of a bank robbery, I've suddenly found myself wearing a bulletproof suit that I didn't even know it existed until some douchebag shot me from six feet away and I didn't die instantly!"

"Alex," Kara puts a hand on her sister arm to calm her down, "Breathe. Let him explain, okay?"

"Well, first of all, what happened today is exactly the reason why I build Artemis for you," Alex sends him a murderous look, "Jumping in front of bullets is a really bad habit of yours, you know?"

"Well, he's got a point," Agrees Kara.

Alex crosses her arms, but loosens the angry face and seems to relax a little before making a gesture for Winn to keep talking.

"Okay… Uhm… I've actually been working on this for quite some time," He starts, his voice shaking a little while he types a few commands on his tablet, "But then you had to go all hero on me and almost die so… I sped things up."

Winn then passes the device to Alex.

"I present you Project Artemis." He says proudly.

"Like the Greek goddess?"

"Yeah, hunter, protector of young girls, and Apollo's," He clarifies pointing at Kara, "God of the sun, sister."

Alex nods. She may have been angry at Winn and the way he carried on with this project without telling anyone, she's even angrier about finding out the way she did, but Alex can't help to be impressed with his work. What she's seeing on that display isn't like anything they've seen before, and being that they work daily with alien technology, that is saying a lot. There are a lot of numbers on the speed, strength, and resistance of the suit, a lot of notes on material and colors, and a virtual model of how it should look once it's deployed. But what really catches Alex attention is another folder where everything else refers to.

"What does "bionbot" means?" She asks while she opens the file.

"Biological Nano Robot. Those little buddies are what make Artemis possible."

"You created an armor with nanobots?" The surprise in J'onn's voice is evident.

"Well, I actually needed Lena's help to develop the bots and some of the more complex processes, but yes," He answers, "Alex, could you take off the watch and put it on the floor?" She raises an eyebrow, but follows Winn instructions. Before she can stand, he speaks again, "Now touch the sphere and say _iahzrhi._ "

Kara snorts and everyone turns to stare at her.

"Sorry, it's just… It's funny," Then she clarifies, "You know? Using the kryptonian word for start to actually start the suit."

"Using anything in English would have been too risky." He clarifies.

"So, I just say that word while touching the sphere?" Reiterates Alex.

At Winn's confirmation, she gives the tablet back to him and kneels closer to the watch, touches slightly the glass, and tries to pronounce the word exactly as he said it. The response is immediate.

Before their eyes, the watch disintegrates into a million of tiny pieces that soon start multiplying, raising from the floor and, delicately, end up sculpting the shape of a human body. The whole process takes no more than four seconds and, by the time it ends, everyone's jaw except Winn's is on the floor.

"The process is almost instantaneous while you wear it," Winn explains, "This is actually the suit in test mode. That's why it's showing the helmet and not just the mask, as you were wearing it. I thought you'd be more comfortable with that than with your whole head covered. The only time you'll really need to wear the helmet is while the suit is on New Moon mode, for obvious reasons." He points out.

Alex takes a step closer, and with cautious fingers, reaches to touch the same spot where the bullet hit her. With the first contact, she notices that what at first sight seems like a plain, smooth surface, is actually the result of very little black scales weaving together a very thin, but _very_ tough material that, in her experience, is able to stop bullets at close range. It fascinates Alex how, when the light hits the unique pattern of the scales, the suit seems to absorb it, making them shine and look darker at the same time. Besides the House of El's crest on the chest, there's another dark silver line following the shape of the suit's waist, and she wonders if that one has also a hidden use besides making the whole thing more aesthetic.

"How does it works?" She finally asks, still engrossed with the suit.

Winn smiles delighted, because that means that he really got Alex to be more curious and less mad about his creation, and if she's interested it means that there's still a possibility that she'll wear it in the future. The only reason why he didn't tell Alex about the suit was because he was sure that she wouldn't had accepted it. She would had probably given him some excuse like how unfair it would be with the other agents, and how she wasn't more important than any of them. And then Winn would have had to argue with her and remind Alex that no other agent would jump in the line of fire to save someone as often as her. It's exhausting just to think about it.

"Artemis is made exclusively for you," He starts, "The bots are coded from the start with your DNA and heartbeat pattern, so only you can activate it. It can be deployed manually, as you just saw, or it can activate itself in case of extreme danger. The watch reads your vital signs constantly, so when your body reacts to a dangerous situation, the bots activate the safety protocol."

"That's what happened at the bank?"

"Yes. And I'm _so_ glad it worked."

"Yeah, me too," Alex says, "I barely felt that bullet. In fact, I barely felt the change at all. I didn't notice until I realized that I wasn't bleeding."

"How could you not notice that you were wearing the suit?" Asks a puzzled Kara.

"I don't know. At first I guess it was the adrenaline of the moment, but after that, when we came back here, it still was like I wasn't wearing anything."

"Adaptable, skin-tight, and almost weightless material, thanks to the unique construction of the bots and a sample of Kara's cape, which, I must say, wasn't easy to obtain," Winn answers, "Our little friends are folded into hundreds of layers while they are in waiting mode. Once you activate the suit, the layers expand and they start to replicate themselves until they reach the desired configuration. They adapt to anything you may be wearing; clothes, shoes, weapons… In fact, the suit is even capable of recharging your favorite gun."

"How do you power the nanobots?" J'onn has been silent all this time, but his been wondering about that important part since he saw the suit deactivating, "The whole process must take a lot of energy."

"Ah, you're right, it does," Winn smiles at the big question, "But we're not talking about a single element. We have millions of little pieces, each with its own solar powered battery, coming together to create a whole."

"The scales work as tiny solar panels?" Alex asks.

"Exactly. Once you deactivate the suit, the replicated bots are destroyed, leaving only the original ones, and the excess of energy is what causes the blinding light that you saw before. That's something Lena and I are still working on, along with some other… features."

"Like?"

"Well, right now Artemis can make you faster, stronger, and almost invulnerable. It can even heal some flesh wounds, due to the bots being able to replicate human tissue. But my real goal is to make you _fly._ "

After hearing that, Kara stares at them wide eyed and excited. Alex, completely silent, can't wrap her mind around everything that Winn just explained, and isn't sure how to feel about it. At the bank, she had been faster, she had felt stronger, and the suit really saved her life, but Alex doesn't want to get excited about the possibility of something that may not happen.

She also doesn't want to seem eager to learn more about the suit. That would give Winn too much satisfaction.

Alex sees as Kara is about to say something when her phone starts ringing. She takes it out of her pocket and finds Maggie's name on the screen.

"Hey," She answers quickly, gesturing to the others that it won't take long.

" _Hey,"_ Maggie replies, " _How was your morning?"_

"Stressful."

" _I can imagine. Didn't you said you were going to the bank today?"_

"Yes…"

" _The same bank that just got out of a hostage situation not more than an hour ago?"_

"Yeah…" At that moment Alex knows exactly what her girlfriend is hinting at.

" _So,_ " Maggie makes a pause and Alex swears that she can feel her smirking at the other side of the line, " _Aren't you going to explain why there's a picture of my girlfriend's fine body, cladded in a black, tight suit, in every single newsfeed on the city?"_

"How did you…?"

" _Babe, I'd know that ass anywhere."_


	3. Testing

_Guess what? Still unbeta'd. Thanks for reading anyways._  
 _I have to say that I'd really, really like to be able to draw properly, because I have the feeling that I'm not doing a good job describing the suit as amazing as I see it in my mind._  
 _Enjoy the chapter. Comments and kudos are very much appreciated._

* * *

Alex is standing in front of the large mirror she has in the bathroom. She's staring at her reflection, only half dressed with a pair of comfy jeans and a black bra, with her hair still wet and dripping little droplets of water.

Unconsciously, she reaches to touch the newest scar on her body. The flesh is still sensitive and the fresh wound feels weird under her fingertips, but it doesn't hurt anymore. She remembers the pain, the feeling of life slipping through her fingers, but what really hunts her is the memory of the faces of her family and friends after she woke up. The way Maggie kissed her, Kara's voice quivering, how strongly her mom held her hand, the tears in Winn's red eyes...

Moving her hand up, she touches the place where the bullet hit her yesterday. There's nothing there, not even a bruise.

She raises the right arm until the watch is in front of her eyes. Alex still finds hard to believe how Winn turned something so conventional into the most extraordinary thing she's seen since Superman left Kara at her doorstep.

Torn in two, Alex doesn't really know what to do about the suit. She can't deny that wearing it had felt amazing, but having Artemis on her wrist also feels like cheating. She's a soldier; she's pushed herself to her limits and earned all the scars that cover her body. The days of being scared of a fight have long passed, and she has already made peace with the fact that to protect, not only Kara, but also the world, she must put her life in the line of fire every day. Honestly, it had been easier to do her job without thinking about dying, before, when Kara still didn't know that she worked for the DEO, when her mother thought that she worked on a regular lab, when there wasn't family, friends or _girlfriend_ worrying every time that she didn't answer a call. Alex knows it isn't her who needs Artemis to keep doing her job; it's everybody else who needs her to wear it.

" _You have to stop doing that."_

Kara had insisted on walking home with her yesterday. The surprise and excitement of seeing her sister wearing the suit had already subdued, and she was staring at the pavement while they walked. There was a hint of sadness in her voice that Alex new it was her fault.

" _Doing what?"_

" _You know what,"_ Kara reprimanded her, " _Being so reckless. Acting like your life doesn't matter."_

" _Kara... It's not like that. I'm just doing my job."_

" _It wasn't you job to get shot again today."_

" _They would have killed that woman."_

" _They would have killed you if it wasn't for Winn!"_ Kara raised her voice enough to catch the attention of a couple of passers-by. She waited a moment until they walked away, " _You put yourself in front of a bullet,_ _ **again**_ _, without thinking about the consequences."_

" _I always think about the consequences, Kara, always. But this is who I am. I was taught to protect, and that's what I do."_

Kara stopped, raised her eyes, and stared into Alex's with resolution.

" _You are going to wear Artemis."_ She said without a hint of doubt.

" _That's not for you to de..."_

" _Yes, it is,"_ Kara interrupted her sister before Alex could finish the sentence, " _You can't even begin to imagine how I felt the moment I heard your heart stopping three weeks ago. I thought... I thought that I was losing everything all over again. I know it's your job, and when you first told me about the DEO I had to accept that getting hurt was part of it, but it never felt real until that moment."_

" _Kara..."_

" _I know that this is who you are,"_ She continued, " _Because it's who I am, too. We protect people. But I'm an alien impervious to bullets and you're just human."_ Alex was about to protest, but Kara didn't give her the opportunity, " _A badass one, I know, but still human. If that suit can keep you from being hurt again, you are going to wear it."_

Alex had promised to think about it, and agreed to do the field test that Winn had proposed before they left the DEO, but nothing else.

She touches the watch and whispers the activation command.

As Winn said, the change is almost instantaneous.

The reflection on the mirror is stunning. The day before she hadn't stop to look at herself wearing the suit, didn't even think about it. Seeing Artemis on test mode wasn't anything compared to staring at it right now.

Every single detail of the suit is perfect. From her feet to her fingertips, the little scales cover her body almost like a second skin made of black steel, expanding upwards until her face is concealed behind a mask that covers from her cheeks to her eyebrows. Her eyes are surrounded by darkness and, for a second, it's like she's looking at someone else. But Alex sees the crest then, placed delicately over her heart. She doesn't feel worthy of that symbol, not even close, but seeing it there is almost like having Kara with her. Stronger together. Always.

"So... Are you going to be the new and hotter version of Guardian?"

Alex turns towards the bathroom door, where her girlfriend is half naked, wearing only a shirt that barely covers her, and staring at her with such desire in her eyes that Alex feels herself combusting inside the suit.

"I was just…"

"Seeing how it feels?" Maggie finishes the sentence.

"Something like that, yeah."

Alex is almost touching her wrist, ready to deactivate the suit, when Maggie gets closer and takes her hand.

"Wait." She says huskily, "Don't take it off, yet."

"Why, Detective? I didn't know that you were into costumes." Alex grins and wraps her arms around Maggie, gently pulling her closer.

"I'm not. But it turns out that I'm very, _very,_ into my extremely attractive girlfriend wearing a mask."

"So… That night at the alien fight club…" Suggests Alex with a breathless whisper, inches away from Maggie's lips.

"You were so hot that night."

"Really?"

"Mmhm." Maggie, dimples full on display, just nods before grabbing Alex by the back of her neck, and crashing their lips together in a hungry kiss.

Maggie arcs her body against her, flushing them together, and Alex curses that she's still wearing the suit, because she can't feel her girlfriend's legs wrapping around her waist, when she lifts Maggie without effort and puts her on the sink's marble top.

"Let me take this off," She pleads, "I need to feel you against me."

"Not yet. I want you like this," Maggie demands between kisses, "All badass and mysterious."

"Badass and mysterious, huh?" Alex's hands start roaming under her girlfriend's shirt, and she marvels at how sensitive that part of the suit is. She can feel the temperature of Maggie's skin rising under her fingertips, every single pore, the slight quivering of anticipation… "You like that?"

"It _really_ turns me on."

"I can tell."

Alex grins and, after getting rid of Maggie's shirt with a swift move, leans forward to place a soft kiss in the valley between her naked breasts. With every kiss, every touch, every brush of her tongue against the heated skin, she can feel Maggie's whole body vibrating, eager and desperate.

"You have to ask Wi-inn how to… take it off just from your… hands," Maggie says almost breathless, while Alex assaults her neck, leaving a path of little bites until she reaches her ear, "…'cause I want you to _oh fuck!"_ She moans loudly when Alex sucks on her pulse point while she pinches her nipples, "O-kay, okay, I don't care about your hands, I want your mouth on me right now."

Alex bites playfully Maggie's earlobe one last time, then steps back a little, and with a mischievous smirk on her lips, she sinks to her knees.

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

They are all gathered outside the old base at the desert. Winn wanted to do a full field test of the suit to make sure that everything was working as it should, and thanks to Kara, Alex has accepted to do it. There's nothing like Puppy Danvers using guilt to get the oldest Danvers sister to do something.

Lena has been able to clear her morning to be present during the test. After all, the bots were also her babies, and she had been really excited to help Winn to create Artemis. There's no doubt that, without her help, it wouldn't have been possible. So, she's already there with Kara, Winn and J'onn when Alex and Maggie arrive on Alex's motorcycle.

The girls take of their helmets and go to meet the rest of the group.

"You two are late." Kara reprimands them.

"Sorry, we got distracted," Alex replies with a smile that is so wide, and _so_ bright, that makes her sister frown.

"Yeah, we got some problems in the bathroom this morning," Maggie says mischievously, "Alex is going to need a new sink."

"What happened to it?" Asks Winn.

J'onn watches as Maggie's grin grows at the same time that Alex's face turns red as a tomato. Even without any psychic powers, it was clear as the day why they have been late.

"You really don't want to know, trust me." He says to the others.

"What? Why?" Kara, adorable, confused Kara, stares between J'onn and the girls, "How did you break the sink? Don't you have one of those thick and heavy marble tops around it? You'd have to be really str… Oh!" She suddenly exclaims, finally figuring out, "Were you wearing the suit?"

"Yeah, she was," Answers a dreamy Maggie.

That's all it takes for Winn to put it all together.

"Oh my God! You… you…," He can't even get to say the words, but points an accusatory finger towards Alex "You! With the-the suit!"

"Amazing job, by the way, man," Maggie comments, completely unashamed, "She looks stunning in it."

"Ew!"

They all turn to look at Kara, as red as her sister and wearing a disgusted expression.

"Ew, Alex!" Lena, next to her, looks amused at Kara's reaction, "I didn't need to know that!

"I didn't say anything!"

"Okay, enough."

Everybody stares at J'onn, full on Director mode.

"We came here to test Artemis, not to talk about Agent Danvers private affairs." He remarks, "Miss Luthor has made a great effort to be here today, and we all have jobs to return to as soon as possible. So, shall we begin?"

* * *

"This is great," Winn announces while staring at the numbers on the display of his table, "You are almost as fast as Kara, the strength is also remarkable, and even if you're still not able to fly, the suit allows you to jump up to sixty feet in the air." He then raises her eyes and looks at Alex, "I think we should try the suit's resistance to impact, next."

Alex, who is looking more and more comfortable in the suit by the minute, is still amazed at everything she can do. She has been able to keep with Kara on a race, she's lifted rocks as big as a bus without too much effort, and she finally understands why every single superhero lands the same way after a big fall. They've even tried the New Moon setting, which was incredible on its own because, not only she could turn completely invisible, but the suit was also capable of erasing the thermal signature of her body. The only downside had been the slightly claustrophobic sensation of wearing the full helmet. Winn had been right by giving her a mask instead.

But being shot again, even if she trusted that Artemis could protect her, is something that she's not really eager to try today.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to stop a bullet with my body again, suit or not," She says, approaching Winn while her hand goes unconsciously to touch the place where she was shot the day before, "But I can tell you that it does a pretty good job stopping bullets at close range."

"What kind of bullet?" He asks.

"The gun looked like a Beretta, so probably your standard 9mm."

"And yesterday you said he was like six feet away?"

"Yes," She confirms, "Even with a vest, at that distance, the impact should have done some damage, but I barely noticed. I don't even have a bruise."

"But you felt the impact." He states to makes sure.

"Yes."

"Uhm," He looks to be thinking about the next step, while everyone else stares at him, waiting, "Kara?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you punch Alex?" He says, "No restrains."

"Are you sure?" She asks a bit unsure, then she turns to her sister, "I don't want to hurt you."

"The whole point of all this is to test the suit's limits." Alex replies, "It's not exactly the same, but better your fist than a bullet, honestly."

Kara nods and steps closer to her sister, but she's hesitating. Even after everything she's seen Alex do with the suit, she's not sure about using all her strength. It's true that it's not the first time she's going to punch her sister, but the previous times there's been kryptonite dampening her powers, and Alex had the advantage of her training. She's still not sure they're on equal grounds today. What if she punches too hard? After all, Alex is still recovering from almost dying three weeks ago.

"Chickening out, Supergirl?" Alex teases her.

"I don' know, Alex…"

"Do I have to call Mon-El to do a woman's job?" She taunts her sister, "Come on."

Kara decides that the best thing she can do is to grant her sister's wish and have it done sooner than later. She turns her right hand into a fist and watches as Alex, grinning, stands ready to take the kit. Kara adjusts her feet for better balance, and before she can think about backing down, strikes Artemis right in the middle of her sister's sternum. The force of the impact moves Alex back a couple of feet, rising a cloud of dust around her.

After a few seconds, when the dust finally settles, they can see her with one knee on the ground and touching the place where her sister's fist impacted.

"Oh my God, Alex! I'm so so…"

Before Kara can finish the sentence and rush towards her sister, everybody stares in awe at Alex rising from the ground, with a smile on her lips and no sign of pain.

"That's all you've got?"

"I didn't hurt you?" Kara asks, bewildered and astonished at how unfazed Alex looks after taking that hit.

"Barely felt it."

And it's true. The moment Kara's fist collided against her body, her mind registered the impact and waited for the resulting pain that usually goes with that kind of hit. But it never came. Just like with the bullet at the bank.

Winn runs towards her, excited and talking about how awesome that was, followed by Maggie and a more collected Lena that, upon reaching Alex, goes directly to touch the suit where Kara punched it.

"Not a single scratch." She comments, "The structure is still in perfect condition."

"Well, that was just one hit," J'onn, states. He looks proud, and there's a hint of amusement in his eyes, "Do you think you could keep up in a real fight?"

Alex stares at him and grins.

"Is that a challenge, Director?"


	4. I am what I am

_This is a bit shorter, but I promise that things will get interesting soon._  
 _As usual, comments and kudos are very much appreciated._

* * *

It is past noon when they return to the DEO headquarters, and the first thing they find is a pissed off Lucy Lane, hands in her hips and a scowl on her face.

"Could somebody, please, explain to me why there's a picture of one of my agents going full on vigilante mode at a bank robbery yesterday?" She raises a tablet, showing them that picture of Alex that someone must had taken the day before, and that is currently half of the Tribune's cover, "I had to learn about this through James, Alex! And he only called me because he wanted to know if we're aware of any new vigilante in town."

"First of all," Alex starts, raising an offended index finger at Lucy, "I am not, nor I will ever be, a vigilante. Let's get that clear. And how did you even know it was me?"

"Oh, come on, that backside is unmistakable."

"Hey!" Next to Alex, Maggie crosses her arms, annoyed at Lucy's comment, "Boundaries, please? That's my girlfriend's ass you're talking about."

"Can we _please_ stop talking about my sister's anatomy?" Kara's discomfort is obvious on her face, "I've been grossed out enough today to last the whole year."

"Agreed," Replies J'onn, passing by them and walking to the centre of the room, "Let's focus on our job," He then addresses Vasquez, "Anything happened while we were out?"

"No dangerous alien activity registered for the past few hours, Sir."

Seeing as everyone is returning to their usual tasks, Maggie decides is time to go to the precinct and do some paperwork she's been putting aside for some time now. She gives a lingering kiss to her girlfriend and whispers a softly " _see you later"_ in her ear, before waving goodbye to everybody else and leaving.

"I should go, too," Mentions Kara, "Snapper is probably wondering if I still work at CatCo." She gives her sister a hug and starts walking towards de balcony, but then she turns again towards Alex, "Hey, can I tell James about the suit and everything that happened yesterday? I feel bad that he's the only one being left out."

"Yeah, no problem," Alex nods.

"He's going to be so crushed. Not to mention, very pissed at me."

"Why?" Kara giggles at Winn childlike whines.

"He's loves his Guardian suit, but now it feels like a toy compared to the piece of art that I made for your sister."

"Why didn't you make something like that for him?" That's something that Alex has been wondering. Why Guardian's suit was just a normal armor when Winn is capable of making something like Artemis?

"He almost _demanded_ that I built him something, because he was going to be risking his life, with my help or not," He replies, "I didn't really have much time to properly develop something beyond a normal suit. He's lucky that I even thought to give him that shield. Besides, I wasn't even sure that I could make Artemis a reality someday. Lena was the key for that."

When he mentioned Lena helping him the first time, Alex has been surprised. Even if the young CEO had started to get closer to the group thanks to Kara's efforts, she's still a bit of a lone wolf. Alex has had long talks with her sister about Lena, about how her more-than-a-friend has always felt alienated from the world, and how hard it was for her to truly trust someone. She sees how Kara's eyes sparkle every time she talks about the young Luthor, or every time someone else mentions her, but she never expected that Lena would be the one to actually go to Alex and address her worries about the big elephant in the room. Their previous conversations had always been around work or science related, so hearing Lena tell her about how much she liked Kara, and how she would love to ask her out properly, had been really weird. After all, one of the most prominent CEOs of the country had asked for her consent to date her little sister. But, even then, Lena has kept herself distant. That's why Alex couldn't understand how someone like Lena Luthor would spend some of her valuable time and money developing something to protect her.

 _Maybe she got something out of it? After all, those bots are technologically ground-breaking._

She makes a mental note to ask her sister about it.

After a few more minutes, Kara finally left, and everyone else got back to their usual routines. But Alex, still high on adrenaline after the field test, walked towards the training room. She felt the need to punch something with her own strength. She feels weird the first couple of hits, but once her body remembers that it never needed the extra strength that Artemis gives her, the movements come naturally.

With every punch she throws, the recent memories of the fight with J'onn come back to her. After all the times they'd sparred before, fighting him while J'onn was in his real martian form and Alex was wearing Artemis, it had been weird. At first, his advances had been contained, calculated, and Alex could tell that he was clearly holding back, even when she was relentless on her attacks.

Tired of waiting for him to take it seriously, Alex delivered a high kick to the side of his face that got him tumbling to the ground.

" _I thought you said this was going to be a real fight?"_ She taunted him, " _Is the big green martian afraid of breaking me?"_ He stood up and grunted, " _Come on, Director. I'm not made of glass."_

Before she could react, J'onn moved out of her sight incredibly fast, catching Alex from behind and immobilizing her. Swiftly, Alex slipped one arm out of his hold and didn't hesitate before elbowing J'onn on his side, twisting then his other arm still holding her and turning to punch him in the face. He wobbled back a few steps, but when Alex jumped to kick him again, he used the momentum against her and, taking Alex by her ankle, threw her against the ground. J'onn aimed at punch at her face, but Alex was faster and rolled out of reach. His fist hit the ground with so much power that the earth cracked around it.

Alex smiled.

" _That's more like it."_

After that, the intensity of the fight started to increase. J'onn wasn't holding back anymore and, if the little proud smile on his lips was any prove, he was enjoying every single minute of it.

By the time they decided to call it a draw, J'onn had a black eye and was limping a little, while Alex had split a rock in half after colliding with it, and ended up with a few dark bruises all over her body that will probably give her hell tomorrow.

"Okay, whatever that bag did to you, I think it learned the lesson."

Alex stops mid-strike and turns to look at the source of the voice. Lucy is leaning over the handrail and staring at her with an amused grin.

"What?" Alex asks.

The other girl points at the punching bag and, when Alex turns to take a look at it, she sees the tiny slit from where a little stream of sand is pouring out.

For a moment, Alex thinks that she's probably been so distracted remembering the fight with J'onn, that she could have activated Artemis without realizing, but she takes a quick look at her hands and finds only her regular gloves. It's then that she remembers taking the watch of her wrist before she started to work out.

"Something's bothering you?" Lucy asks once she's closer.

"Why do you ask?"

"You don't punch things with such passion without a reason." When Alex just nods and steps away from the bag, taking the gloves of her hands, Lucy decides to keep talking, "J'onn said you two had quite a sparring match out there. Shouldn't you be resting? You're still on medical leave."

"I'm fine," Alex replies, "I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but that's something I'm used to."

"That suit must be something else if it allows you to keep up in a fight with the Last Son of Mars and end up _just a little sore._ "

"It is something else, yes." She sighs.

"I was going to ask you to show me the suit, but I get the vibe that you are quite done with it for today." Her friend comments. Alex, suddenly feeling exhausted, leans her body against the wall and slides slowly until she's sitting on the cold concrete, "Want to talk about it?" Lucy asks her.

Alex pinches her nose, feeling and impending headache. Then she rests her head against the wall and stares at the ceiling.

"Would you think it's weird if I told you that I feel weaker wearing it?"

"It's not weird," Lucy sits next to Alex and smiles at her, "You and I are the kind of girls who would jump head first into a battlefield armed with just a swiss army knife. I can only imagine, but I guess that wearing and enhance armor it could feel like cheating," She suggests, "Like it's not even you who's fighting?"

Alex turns her head to find Lucy's beautiful eyes staring at her with understanding. This is someone who knows how much it takes to reach a commanding position on their jobs, how hard you have to work to be faster, stronger, _better_ , than most of the men, how ruthless you have to get to be taken seriously. Lucy understands.

"The way I see it, you have two options," Lucy says, "One, you can stop wearing that watch, explain to your sister and everybody else how it really makes you feel, and that they need to accept that you are a soldier, and soldiers get hurt," She turns her whole body towards Alex and, in an unexpected gesture, she takes her friend's right hand and touches the inside of her wrist, where Alex uses to wear the watch, "Or, you can _own_ this amazing gift, and do incredible things that we, mere mortals, aren't allowed to do," Lucy squeezes Alex hand, encouragingly, "Reach the next level, take what the suit gives you and make it grow beyond its limits. The bad guys already tremble in fear when they see you, imagine their faces if you show up all clad up in your skin-tight, impenetrable armor, stopping bullets and punching holes in their secret bases. They would pee themselves."

Alex can't help the chuckle that leaves her throat.

"I'm not going to be a vigilante," She says, pointing a finger at Lucy, but finally smiling.

"That's not your style, I know." Lucy shrugs, "Hiding in the shadows? Not Alex Danvers. You're a 'go big or go home' kind of girl. If you put on that suit, you'll end up being a damn superhero."

"Don't ever joke about that in front of Winn and Kara."

Lucy lets go a roar of laughter at Alex's panicked face.

"I'm not kidding, Lucy. Those two would get excited and start brainstorming superhero names the moment you mention it."

"Well… Winn told me the suit's name and it sounds pretty amazing already."

"No. Don't even think about it. I'm not going to start parading around the city letting people call me by the name of an ancient Greek Goddess," She points, "Not happening."

"I give it a week."

"Is that a formal bet?"

"That's easy money, Danvers."

"I won't do it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Lucy snickers, getting up from the floor and extending her hand to help Alex, "Maybe you just need to warm up to the idea, you know? Get yourself comfortable in it, in a calm environment."

"Like here, right know?" There's amusement in Alex's question. She can see Lucy coming from a mile away.

"Yeah, why not?"

"You just want to check me out in the suit."

"I... just want to check you out in the suit." Lucy admits with a mischievous grin on her lips.

Before Alex can answer, they hear the coms in their ears being open and Vasquez voice coming through.

" _Director Lane, your presence is needed in the questioning room. Delta team has brought a new hostile."_

"Be there in five," She answers. Then she sighs and smiles at Alex, "Raincheck on that private show?"

"Mmhm."

Alex, standing next to the damaged punching bag, watches as Lucy walks towards the door with a confidence in her steps that shouldn't be possible in someone so tiny.

"Go home, Danvers!" She shouts before crossing the doorway, "I want my best agent back to work tomorrow, and one hundred percent ready to kick some asses!"

When Lucy finally disappears and Alex is alone again, she turns to the bag and, carefully, puts a finger over the slit on the fabric, successfully stopping the sand that's been leaking while Lucy was there, and that has ended up on a little pile under the bag. She's going to need some tape for that.


	5. Hero

_Sorry for the delay this time, I got distracted with life and writing other things._  
 _This is still unbeta'd and I just finished it. I haven't even read it twice, so it'll probably be full of mistakes. I'll probably take another look tomorrow and fix anything I find._  
 _As always, reviews are very much appreciated. You know I love when you share your theories and ideas with me._

* * *

Alex doesn't even last the week that Lucy predicted.

It's been five days since the bank robbery, four since the field test, barely a month since she almost died, and Alex has managed to keep doing her job as always, without the need to deploy Artemis.

Truth is, work has been dull the past few days, so dull that Kara's superhero duties have been focused on rescuing puppies and visiting children at the hospital, while Alex has spent the week between the lab and the training room.

She's had to tape the punching bag at least two more times.

After the talk with Lucy, Alex has been tempted to put on the suit, keep training with it and see how far she could take it, after all, she was a soldier with the mind of a scientist, and it's in her nature to test things to their limits. But Alex is also stubborn as a mule, and keeps making excuses in her head to delay making a decision.

But she still puts that watch on her wrist every morning. It's almost as if the damn thing called to her.

In the end, the decision is taken away from her. Or rather, she doesn't have time to make a decision and just jumps head first into it.

* * *

They should have known that something was going to happen. Inside an organisation like the DEO, so many days without incidents were like a bad omen, and everyone was on edge, waiting for the needle to drop.

When the alarm goes off that morning, the first one to jump into action is Alex. She suits up in her standard DEO gear, puts on one of the improved bulletproof vests and takes the biggest gun she can find, in addition to her favourite one that's already on her thigh holster.

There's not one, but three aliens on the run. Three big, strong, Fort Rozz escapees that appeared out of nowhere, in broad daylight, without any other purpose than wreak havoc around the city. They are currently running through the line of cars stuck at the south highway

" _Supergirl is already there,"_ Alex hears J'onn say through the comms, " _But she needs backups as soon as possible."_

"Where's Mon-El?" She asks while adjusting her body against the frame of the helicopter's door and anchoring the rope for the jump.

" _We're still trying to contact him, but Guardian is already on his way. Your team is the only help she has right now."_

"Copy that," She replies before turning to the other four members of her squad, "Okay guys, we have three hostile Vornians. Very strong, thick skin, and extremely dangerous. We'll try to subdue them, but if you feel threatened, shoot to kill. Do not hesitate, and remember that our priority are the civilians down there."

Alex takes a last look at the situation down at the road before gesturing the rest of the team to start descending. She checks the rope one last time and jumps after them.

She lands right on the head of one of the Vornians that had Kara pinned against a car.

"What took you so long?" Is the first thing her sister asks after she recovers her breath.

"You know I love a good dramatic entrance."

Suddenly, they see Parker being thrown in the air and landing against the side of a truck, falling unconscious to the ground.

"Go," Alex urges her sister, "There's still two left. I'll take care of this one," She gestures to the knocked down alien at her feet.

She watches as Supergirl launches herself at the alien that knocked down Parker before it can go after another agent. Collins and Adams are trying to hold the other one with constant fire, while Blake is helping the remaining civilians getting out of their cars.

Kara punches Vornian 2 on the face and the alien stumbles back a few steps, before it quickly recovers and strikes her back on her stomach. They engage in a back and forth series of hits, while Alex is still immobilizing the first Vornian, still unconscious on the ground, before she can go and help her sister.

But then, Vornian 3, in an attempt to get rid of the other three agents, bangs its fists with brutal force against the concrete, making the highway shake and start cracking under their feet. The other alien has Kara pinned against a car, panicking people is running everywhere, and part of the ground is collapsing, taking some cars with it.

"Alex!" She hears Kara shouting, while she struggles to get rid of the alien, "The bus!"

Alex turns around frantically, looking for it, until she sees the yellow school bus, full of screaming kids, threatening to tumble over the side of the road, which is quickly disappearing under its front tires.

She doesn't stop to think, there's no time for it. Alex just knows that she has to reach the kids in time.

And she does.

Seeing the faces of those kids, scared and trapped, staring at her in awe while she holds the bus by its rear bumper, gives Alex, for the first time, a real reason to be proud of wearing Artemis.

Not for her.

For them. For the children on that bus, for the people on that highway, and for every single civilian that gets caught in the crossfire every time a hostile alien attacks.

With the help of the suit, it doesn't take her too much to pull the bus back to solid ground, making sure that its four wheels are touching the concrete. She hears the children cheering for her, and Alex smiles and waves at them, relieved that they are okay.

"Danvers, watch out!"

She hears Collins too late, and then Alex is flying over the cars and crashing against the same truck where Parker was thrown a few minutes ago. She's luckier, though. Thanks to the suit, Alex barely registers the impact and lands on her feet, quickly recovering from the surprise. She watches as Vornian 3 picks up a car over his head and, angrily, throws it at her. Alex could simply jump and avoid the impact, but Parker is still unconscious and she can't risk leaving him there to be crushed under that car. So, Alex braces herself and, when the Prius goes down on them, she raises her arms in front of her head and stops it.

The two aliens stare dumbfounded at the tiny human holding the car over her head, and Kara uses that distraction to get rid of the hold that Vornian 3 had on her, twisting its huge arm until the alien is screaming in pain. The other one, ignoring the DEO agents shooting at them, charges straight towards Alex, who throws the car back at the Vornian and takes her gun from the holster. He smashes the Prius, but Alex's perfect aim puts two shots in their chest and, finally, knocks the alien down.

Searching for Kara, she finds that her sister has also reduced the last Vornian and is handing the alien over to Collins and Adams. When Kara notices Alex staring at her, she beams proudly at her sister and brings her right hand to touch her chest, exactly where her sister's suit has the crest of her family. Alex understands the gesture and, with a shy smile, nods.

She's kneeling next to Parker when the sound of a motorbike startles them.

"Damn," James curses once he gets off the bike and looks around at the mess, "Am I late to the party?"

* * *

"That was so badass!"

Winn is the first one to jump from his chair and goes straight to hug Alex, who stiffs at the contact and stares at her sister asking for an explanation.

"Let him be," Kara just smiles at the display of affection in front of her, "He's like an excited koala."

Alex grunts.

"Do you understand that I'm still wearing the suit and I could crush your ribs if I wanted?" She tells him, more amused than annoyed.

"I don't care!" He squeezes her even harder, "You were so awesome!"

"Agent Schott..."

J'onn's stern tone finally does the job and Winn lets go of Alex, but keeps grinning like a maniac.

"Report, Agent Danvers." The Director requests.

"The three Vornians are being held into custody and questioned later. The doctor is checking Parker right now, but he's conscious. He'll probably have a concussion and a couple of broken ribs."

"Any civilian casualties?"

"Minor scratches and a panic attack," Alex answers, "Other than that, everyone was safe."

"Yeah, thanks to you," Kara says, with a smile on her lips that conveys how proud she is of her sister, "I wouldn't have reached that bus in time. I know you didn't want to use..."

Suddenly, Kara is interrupted by her phone. She takes it out of her pocket while 'Let the river run' starts playing and fills the whole room, while Supergirl stares puzzled at the screen.

"Shouldn't you answer that?" J'onn inquires.

"I... yes, yeah," She says hesitantly, before touching the green button on the screen, "Ms. Grant?" She pauses, clearly listening to the woman at the other side of the line, while everyone stares at her, "Yes... No, I don't... Ms. Grant, I don't know what you're talking about," She snorts nervously, "No... I... No, she's not... Okay, okay, yes... Give me a second."

Alex watches as her sister turns towards her and, apologetically, hands her the phone.

"I'm sorry," Kara says, "She wants to talk to you."

"Me? Why?"

"Probably because Artemis just went viral on Youtube," James comments while staring at the screen of her phone, "Damn, I'm so disappointed I missed that."

Kara, still with the phone in her hand, hands the device to her sister, who sighs deeply before answering.

"Yes?"

" _Agent Scully, I expect CatCo to have the exclusive on this new development,"_ Cat Grant, collected as ever, tells her.

"And what development would that be?"

" _I don't have time for games, Danvers,_ " She hears Cat groaning, " _I have footage from CatCo's air unit on that fight at the South Highway, and even if there's not a clear shot of your face before you put on that mask, you are kind of unmistakable_ " Cat makes a pause, but before Alex can say anything, she continues, _"I must say I'm impressed. That was extraordinary."_

Alex looks at her sister, who has been listening to their conversation, asking for a way to get out of this mess. But Kara just shrugs and mutters a silent sorry.

"Thank you, I guess," She finally says, accepting the fact that Cat Grant knows and there'll be no way to change her mind.

" _I don't know if you are aware, but there are four different videos of you saving those kids, all viral already, and people is wondering who that new superhero is._ "

"I'm not..." Alex tries to retort.

" _So, as an exception this time, and because I respect that you are a fearless, strong woman, I will let you decide the name that will go next to your picture on the front page of the Tribune tomorrow."_

"Weren't you on some spiritual retreat?" Alex asks, "Shouldn't your minions decide those things?"

" _I'm not going to let those incompetents decide such an important matter like this. So, name?"_

Kara points excitedly at her sister, gesturing what Alex should tell Cat.

"Ugh... okay, fine. Winn called the suit Artemis. You can use that," Kara and Winn clap enthusiastically at the same time, while Alex rubs at her temples, "But this will be the only thing you'll get from me."

" _We'll see about that. So, Artemis as in the Greek goddess?"_

"Yes," Alex wonders how many times she's going to hear that question.

" _Uhm... That's quite clever, if the little crest I could discern on your suit is, in fact, the same as Supergirl's."_

"It is." She replies, "Are we done, Ms. Grant?"

" _Yes, and you can tell the gnome he did well this time with that suit. Black looks spectacular on you."_

Before Alex can say anything else, Cat ends the call and she stays with Kara's phone against her ear, still trying to process what happened.

"Why do I have the feeling that I just got interviewed by Cat Grant?"

"Believe me, that's nothing compared to a real interview with Cat Grant," James replies, while Winn and Kara chuckle beside him, "Count your blessings and hope that she doesn't jump on the next flight and comes here in person."

Alex shivers at that and wonders how Kara could deal with Cat Grant for so long without breaking down like everyone else.

Shortly after that, J'onn dismiss them and they go back to their usual work. Kara and James return to CatCo, and Winn starts analysing the data from the fight, while Alex, deciding to keep wearing the suit for a little longer, goes to the rooms where the Vornians are being kept.

* * *

When Alex opens the door of her apartment that night, the only thing that's on her mind is getting into the comfiest pyjamas she owns, make some popcorn, and lay on the couch watching the corniest movie she can find until she falls asleep.

After the incident that morning, Winn had been following her around the DEO all day, asking to do check-ups on the suit, making sure that the gun was charging properly, trying to persuade Alex into doing a resistance test with some lasers… He even asked Alex to let him shot her favourite gun against her to check if Artemis could hold against a plasma blast.

Before Alex could lose her mind and do something that she would regret later, Lucy saved her from the claws of an overexcited Agent Schott.

But Lucy had been also excited after finally seeing Alex wearing the suit, so she ran away from her as soon as possible.

When J'onn saw her sitting in the training room, he raised an eyebrow at her and asked why hadn't she deactivated the suit.

" _It's really comfortable."_ She replied.

" _Even the mask?"_

" _Yeah, but I should probably ask Winn if I can take it off, somehow."_ She traced the edged of the mask with her index finger, slowly. _"It feels weird."_

" _Hiding your face?"_

" _Being the hero."_ She clarified.

" _But you've always been a hero, Alex._ " He said smiling tenderly, " _The only difference is that everyone will be able to see it, now."_

She throws her jacket over the kitchen counter, takes off her boots, and lets her body slump on the couch, sighing deeply.

"I'm no hero." She mutters.

"Tell that to those kids you saved this morning."

Alex opens her eyes surprised, and sees Maggie standing at her bathroom's door, wearing nothing more than an oversized NCPD t-shirt and a teasing smirk. She walks slowly towards the couch, until she's in front of Alex, who takes her girlfriend's hand and tugs her until Maggie is straddling her.

"Do you want to tell me about your day?" Alex closes her eyes and shakes her head slightly, while Maggie's hands, softly, travel from Alex's shoulders to her wrists. Carefully, she unties the strap of her girlfriend's watch and takes it off, "Do you want me to help you relax a little, instead?"

Maggie's hips move slowly against her, applying pressure on her girlfriend's centre with clear intentions, and Alex grins tiredly at her before opening her eyes and replying.

"Yes, please."


	6. Rush

_NEW HERO IN TOWN?_

 _Girl power is strong in National City_

By Cat Grant

Alex sighs and throws the paper on the table, before sitting on the chair. She sips her coffee silently, while her eyes drift towards the picture on the front page and the big, bold letters next to it. She hasn't opened the paper to read the article, and she's not sure she'll do it, because just the thought of everything that will come from the media acknowledging Artemis' existence is already overwhelming.

She's not like Kara. She's not warm, or charming, or someone who likes people in general. Alex is, definitely, not someone who would like to be the centre of attention. If anything, it'll make harder to do her job properly.

"We're going to have to ask James for a proper picture," Maggie leans over her back and gives Alex a peck on her cheek. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning." Alex greets her with a smile, "Coffee?"

"Please."

While Alex goes to the kitchen to get some coffee for her girlfriend, Maggie sits and grabs the paper. She gives a quick look to the front page, chuckles, and opens it to read the actual article.

"Did you read it?" She asks.

"No," Alex comes back with a mug and a dry toast that she leaves in front of Maggie with a gesture of disgust. Then she sits back, "And I'm not sure if I want to know what she wrote."

"It's actually pretty good," Maggie leans back on her chair, and then she proceeds to quote the article, " _Let me answer a few questions. Is she new in town? No. Is she a new superhero? Also, no. What everyone witnessed yesterday was not the birth of a hero, neither someone simply passing by. What we really saw on that highway was a strong, brave, and selfless woman finally stepping out of the Supergirl shaped shadows. She's someone who has always been there, helping, supporting, and letting the big names always take the credit._ Wait," Maggie stops reading and drops the paper a little to look at Alex, "Does Cat Gran know who you are?"

"Yes. That woman has been a pain in my ass since Kara came out as Supergirl."

Maggie raises an eyebrow at that.

"There's a story there that I'd like to hear someday." She says. As a reply, Alex just grunts, making Maggie laugh before going back to reading, "I think this is my favorite part," She comments, " _It is known that behind every great hero, there's always someone equally great, keeping them focused, grounded, that we never see. Lady Artemis was that person for Supergirl. She's the moon that has always been eclipsed by the sun clad in red and blue. If you want the opinion of this humble media mogul, it was about time that she took a step forward and claimed her rightful place. Not behind the Girl of Steel, but by her side._ Babe, do I need to be jealous of Cat Grant?" Maggie asks playfully, before putting the paper back on the table and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Prff... As if. She calls me Scully."

Rolling her eyes, Maggie smirks at her girlfriend.

"First, you are way hotter than Scully when you wear your suit and flaunt around that FBI batch. And second, Cat Grant seems to thinks very highly of you. I don't know her, but I've heard that making such an impression on that woman is quite a difficult task."

Alex, defeated, bangs her head on the table's hard surface and sighs deeply. She mutters something to herself, but before Maggie has the opportunity to ask what she just said, Alex's phone pings notifying a new message.

"It's Kara," Maggie says, taking her own phone and opening the superfriends' chat where the younger Danvers just texted, "She says you are trending topic on Twitter."

"What?!" Alex quickly straightens up again on her chair. The look on her face is so hilarious that Maggie has to bit her lip to not start laughing at her girlfriend's reaction.

"She says to check out the hashtag LadyArtemis." Maggie, amused, opens her own Twitter account and looks up the topic Kara mentioned, "Whoa, you really are trending. Supergirl is there too."

"Kara is always trending after a battle in the middle of the city," Alex hides her face behind her mug while she swallows half of her coffee, "She even takes selfies sometimes."

"You are freaking out right now, aren't you?" Maggie watches as her girlfriend squirms in her chair, "Don't you want to know what people is saying?"

Alex just shrugs.

"Okaay... You are certainly enthusiastic about all this, huh?"

"I didn't sign up for the hero role, remember?"

"Well, Miss "I'm not a hero", there's a guy saying that he was stuck under that highway, and that the bus would have dropped right on his head if it wasn't for you," Alex finally peels her eyes from the bottom of her coffee mug and looks at her girlfriend, who's still engrossed reading the tweets, "Or this mom whose kid was actually on that bus. She says that the little girl won't shut up about the lady who saved them. Hey, look at this," Maggie hands her phone over to Alex, "The kid even drew you throwing the car at that alien."

Alex stares dumbfounded at the picture attached to the tweet. It's the typical drawing of a child not older than seven or eight, with a large, ugly monster on one side, all red and with an angry face, and a black, slender figure, holding a big car over its head. She's always found endearing how Kara keeps a folder at home with all the drawings her little fans send her, but it isn't until now, when she has the urge to print that picture and pin it to her own fridge, when Alex understands why her sister does it.

When she looks up again, her girlfriend is staring at her with the most tender smile she's ever seen.

"What?"

"I just realized something." Maggie replies.

"And aren't you going to share that revelation?" Alex asks, intrigued by Maggie's mischievous smile.

"Someday," She says softly, and tilting her head slightly to the side, "Soon."

Alex is about to protest, ready to jump her girlfriend and use her skills to get out of her whatever secret she doesn't want to share, when her own phone starts ringing.

"It's Lucy," She says before picking up and putting the call on speaker, "Danvers."

" _Police reports a robbery and car chase downtown city."_ Lucy explains as soon as Alex answers, _"Seems to be at least one alien involved. Are you up to it?"_

"Where's Kara?"

" _Occupied with a fire on a ship in the middle of the ocean."_

She's hesitating, but Maggie nods encouragingly at her, mouthing a silent _go._

" _Come on, Danvers. Put on that shinny suit of yours and go save the city already."_

* * *

Since the moment she activates Artemis and jumps out of her window, Alex has Vasquez on her ear, telling her at every turn the faster route to intersect the car. She runs and jumps from roof to roof, avoiding the busy streets, marvelling at how easily she defies wind and gravity. It feels almost like nothing is holding her down, like she's free of the boundaries of the Earth.

Alex wonders if this is how her sister feels every day.

Once she finds the thieves, Alex gains some distance ahead of them and stops for a second. From the top of a fourteen-story building, she watches as the car speeds fast through one of the main streets, chased by three police cars that are having trouble following it. Alex quickly calculates the car's trajectory and counts down the seconds, twelve exactly, before jumping in front of the car.

Or, at least, that was her intention. Alex must have miscalculated slightly, because she ends up landing on top of the car's hood, instead, successfully crushing the vehicle against the pavement.

She gives a quick look inside the car, where two of the four men lay unconscious, another is groaning in pain, and the last one, who seems to be the alien that Lucy mentioned, is trying to get out and reaching for a gun.

There's a lot of people around watching the scene, and Alex can't risk any civilian getting injured, so she quickly jumps down from the hood, rips open the car's door where the alien is struggling to get free, and swiftly takes the gun from his hand, before taking him by the collar and smashing his body against the concrete.

"You better stay down or I'll have to _really_ hurt you, understand?" She says menacingly. The alien growls and nods, defeated.

In that moment, the three police cars finally arrive. Alex pats the alien's cheek, stands up from her kneeling position, and turns to the officers approaching them.

"All yours, gentlemen."

Then she turns again, runs away from them, and without looking back, jumps to the roof of the nearest building.

" _You know what I looove about social media?"_ She hears Lucy say in her ear, " _All that instant feedback and live coverage."_

"You saw that?" Alex asks while looking down at the street from her position at the ledge of the building.

" _Everyone at the DEO saw it. Winn broadcasted it on the screens here."_

"Of course he did."

" _You should have seen the people here cheering when you ripped the door of the car…"_

"Lucy?" Alex interrupts her friend.

" _Yes?"_

"I've got the night shift today and Maggie is free so, if you don't mind, I'm going back home to spend the day with my girlfriend."

" _Got it. Enjoy your day, Agent Danvers."_

"You too, Director."

* * *

The moment she walks through the window again and steps into her apartment, Alex lets go the breath she's been holding all the way back. In a second, Artemis disappears and it's replaced again by the comfy pants and loose shirt of her pyjamas.

But the adrenaline rush coursing through her body is still going strong.

So, when Maggie turns off the TV and stands from the couch to greet her girlfriend, she's surprised by Alex's strong arms lifting her from the ground, and manoeuvring them until she's sitting on the kitchen's counter and Alex is between her legs.

"Eager?"

"No talking now."

Whatever Maggie was going to say next, is instantly muffled by her girlfriend's lips capturing hers in a fiery kiss. Without hesitation, Alex's strong hands get tangled in Maggie's hair, while Maggie's legs close around her girlfriend's waist, and her arms surround Alex's neck, melting their bodies together in a heated embrace. The kiss grows in intensity with every second, deeper, wilder. They soon lose themselves in the feeling of their tongues brushing, the flushing skin under their hands, their hot breaths against the other's lips, at the same time that their clothes are being discarded on the floor.

When Alex's fingers brush the fabric over her girlfriend's sensitive centre, an unrestrained moan leaves Maggie's throat, and that's the signal that Alex was waiting to get rid of the last piece of underwear covering their bodies. Their panties join the pile of clothes on the floor, and soon Alex's hands return to eagerly explore Maggie's body.

"Alex..," Maggie moans again when she feels her girlfriend's mouth on her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses under her jaw, and slowly going down towards her chest.

Alex is completely lost in the feeling of Maggie's body against hers, in every little shiver her fingers cause, in her girlfriend's laboured breaths and the quickening rising of her chest. Her right hand goes to cup one of Maggie's breasts, while she brings her mouth to take care of the other, biting gently on the hardened nipple. Maggie's moan echoes through the whole apartment as she falls backwards on the counter in pure bliss, and arches her body against her girlfriend's touch with every brush of Alex's tongue on her skin.

"Alex, please..."

She knows all the tell tales of Maggie's body by now. The needy, breathless tone of her voice, the way her hands try to grab at whatever she can find to have something grounding her, the trembling of her lips, and the slightly raising of her hips, are all the signs that tell her that Maggie is ready, that she won't need much to tumble over the edge. Hard.

Alex is eager to hear Maggie screaming her name, so she leaves a last kiss on her girlfriend's abs and finishes her journey burying her head between Maggie's thighs. The scent surrounding her is intoxicating, enough to flood her senses and make her forget about everything else but the woman under her, and the way she desperately chants Alex's name again and again.

Maggie is so turned on that, at the first brush of Alex's tongue on her clit, her body jolts up from the counter, and one of her hands quickly reach for Alex-s head, tangling her fingers in her girlfriend's hair and desperately tugging at it, making sure that Alex's mouth stays where she needs it more.

"God, Danvers," She groans, "Keep do-doing that and I won't l…" But then, Alex decides that it's time to make her girlfriend scream, and after a couple of fierce strokes with her tongue, she bites gently the over-sensitive bundle of nerves, "OH MY FUCK…!"

Maggie whole body tenses and falls back on the counter, but Alex decides that her job is not done yet. While Maggie is still riding the waves of her orgasm, Alex runs her fingers over the wetness of her girlfriend's sex and, without hesitation, she easily slips her index and middle finger inside, looking for that spot that will make the woman in her arms see stars.

When that happens, when Alex finds the right place and curls her fingers in the perfect way, while her mouth sucks and her tongue licks, and all her being trembles with anticipation, Maggie comes again.

It's powerful, silent, breathless, and beautiful. So beautiful.

Maggie's breathing is erratic and, for a moment, Alex worries that it's been too much. Carefully, she takes her fingers out and places a last kiss on her girlfriend's sex, before she leans over Maggie's body and her way up to the woman's chest.

"I don't know… what… prom-ted that…" Maggie tries to say between deep intakes of air, "But woah."

"Are you okay?" Alex asks, smiling against the skin under Maggie's jaw. Then, she surrounds her girlfriend's body with her arms and helps her sit on the counter again, "That wasn't too much?"

"It was… amazing, Alex. Different, but amazing," Maggie answers, before leaning to kiss her, "But you are not usually this aggressive."

"Adrenaline rush?"

Maggie chuckles a little and holds Alex closer, gently nuzzling into her neck.

"So, I'll have to expect a repeat of this every time you save the city?" She jokes while Alex's fingers on her back keep drawing circular patterns absently.

"Maybe," Alex grins, while she feels Maggie's lips placing little kisses on her neck, "At least until I get used to it."

"I thought you were going to stay out there, saving kittens and kicking criminals' asses."

Alex moves back a little and takes Maggie's head in her hands, caressing lightly her girlfriend's cheeks with her thumbs.

"I promised you that today was going to be just us. They'll call if there's an emergency."

"So," Maggie smirks mischievously, "You're mine for the rest of the day?"

"I'm yours, as long as you want me."


	7. Worries

_Notes:_

 _I KNOOOOOW. I'M SOOOOOORRY._  
 _I've been stuck writing this chapter for a long time. I wrote other things to try to get rid of the block I had with Artemis, and I've finally been able to finish chapter 7._  
 _I've got some messages asking if I was going to continue this fic, and I assure you that I plan to finish it (it's almost done, anyway). I won't abandon Artemis, I promise._

 _As always, this ain't betta'd, so beware all the mistakes you'll find. I'll probably come back later to fix as much as possible._

* * *

"So? What do you think?"

In front of her, Kara is holding the newly released CatCo Magazine, with a high-resolution close-up of Artemis on the cover, courtesy of the one and only James Olsen.

"How did he even take that picture?"

"He was at the coffee shop next to that supermarket where you helped yesterday," Kara says, while looking at the cover again with a proud smile, "Isn't it great? You can even glimpse the crest."

It's not the first time that people have noticed the crest, though. In the week that has passed since the incident with the Vornians and the morning car chase, Artemis has been spotted a few more times around the city, mostly supporting Supergirl or fighting alongside Guardian, but also on a couple of solo missions. People had seen the Kryptonian crest, and now everyone is speculating about the origins of their new favorite hero. Is she from Krypton too? Is she family? Something else? Why does she hides her face and wears black, while the Supers don't wear a mask and have bright colored costumes? Winn even mentioned that people on some forums have their own conspiracy theories regarding who she really is, and how they had seen before a certain female agent, probably from a secret agency, always working at close quarters with Supergirl.

"I'm still not sure that all this exposure is good for the DEO," John comments after entering the room followed by Winn, and circling the rounded table, "People are talking too much, and President Marsdin already asked for a debrief about Artemis."

"The President asked about my baby?" Winn shouts excited.

Everyone turns to stare at him with raised eyebrows and rolling eyes.

"What? I created the suit, I gave it life, therefore, it's my baby," He retorts, "Anyway, here," Winn extends his hand towards Alex, giving her back the watch that he had borrowed a few hours ago, "I enhanced the response time for the activation command, lowered the light emission after deactivating, _and_ added a little touch sensitive spot behind your right ear that will allow you to take off the mask as you asked me."

"Thanks, Winn."

Alex smiles at him and takes the watch to, immediately, put it on. She thinks it's a bit silly how much she's missed the feeling of the strap around her wrist. She's always been really attached to that watch since the day J'onn gave it to her on her first mission but, in the last week, it has grown to be almost an extension of her. Even at home, where she could relax for a while and forget about the outside world, it was Maggie who had to take her hand and unstrap the watch, reminding Alex that she doesn't need to be on duty twenty-four hours a day.

" _It's not about duty,"_ Alex has explained one night. They were snuggled on the couch, not really watching the movie playing on the TV, and simply enjoying the night, " _How did you feel after the first time you got shot?"_

 _"I was scared for a while. I didn't want to admit it but, sometimes, a loud noise outside my window at night would trigger a panic attack. In the end, I got some help and it faded away."_

 _"Right."_ Alex nodded in understanding, _"You know that scar on my thigh?"_

 _"Yeah. It's hard to forget the marks of a big claw on your leg."_

 _"That was the first time I got hurt on the field, and I was scared after it happened, of course, but nothing I couldn't deal with. What I couldn't bear, what I was really afraid of, was that Kara could see me hurt. I avoided her for almost two weeks, because I was slumping and I couldn't walk without flinching."_

 _"Didn't Kara know that you could get hurt with the kind of work you have?"_

 _"At the time, all that Kara knew about my job was that I worked in a lab and I had to travel a lot. It wasn't until she decided to be Supergirl that I had to tell her about the DEO."_

 _"So… You've got so attached to the suit because, subconsciously, you think it would protect Kara from seeing you hurt again?"_

 _"The way she looked at me the day I woke up after I almost died? I don't want to see that look on my sister's face ever again."_

So, in the end, the main reason why she's been missing the watch on her wrist is the absence of that feeling of safety that it gives her, the certainty that she won't get hurt, and her loved ones won't have to see her again prostrated on a bed and barely breathing. But, even if she tried to convince herself at first that she was only wearing Artemis for her family, Alex can't deny anymore that she's getting used to the power, to the rush of adrenaline that brings being capable of leaping from a skyscraper or stopping bullets with her hands, to that feeling of finally, _finally,_ being almost at Kara's level.

When that happens, when she feels Agent Danvers slipping away and being replaced by superhero Alex, by Artemis, she takes off the watch and asks J'onn to spar with her. Plain old human versus martian. It keeps her grounded.

"Why would you want to take off just the mask?" Asks Kara.

"The suit is comfortable, and I'm getting used to stay in it while being here at the DEO," Alex explains, "But it feels weird talking to people while wearing a mask."

"It's kind of weird, yeah." Her sister agrees. "I'm still getting used to seeing James with Guardian's helmet on."

"By the way, Alex," Winn joins again, "Have you noticed anything weird while you're wearing the suit? Any glitch or slow performance? Maybe a hole in the armor?"

Alex frowns.

"No, why? Should I be worried?"

"No, no! I just… There were some weird results while I was testing it before, and I thought that maybe was affecting the suit somehow."

"What kind of results you've got?" J'onn asked a bit worried.

"Nothing too serious, just unusual activity while they should be on standby."

"The bots were active on their own?

"I don't know how to explain it, but some of the core bots kind of anticipated the update, almost as if they knew what I was going to do," Winn pauses and sees the disconcert on his friends' eyes, "I still have to double check, so I asked Lena to come here tomorrow for a second opinion."

"Can I help with that?"

Everyone turned towards the door, where Maxwell Lord was standing with his usual mischievous grin on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Alex is the first one to react, immediately adopting a guarded stance.

"Can't a friend come visit from time to time?"

"A friend? Yes. But you probably have some ulterior motives to be here." Says Kara.

"Ah, Supergirl, you know me so well."

"Speak." Alex demands.

"Okay. I have to admit that part of me is here because I was curious about the new superhero in town. Imagine my surprise when I saw that picture of Agent Danvers wearing such a fantastic new armor."

"How did you…?"

"Do not ask that question," Alex interrupts Winn before he can finish the sentence, "I don't want to know."

The interaction only makes the smirk on Max's lips grow bigger.

"As I said, I'm curious about Artemis and I'll be glad to give any assistance you may need with the suit. It would be nice to have the chance to finally collaborate with the lovely Lena Luthor," He then makes a pause and his face turns serious, "But that's not the main reason for my visit."

"What have you done this time?"

"Why do you always assume I'm the one to blame?

"What. Have. You. Done?" Alex insists.

At this, Maxwell just sighs and his bravado crumbles a little.

"Okay. Remember when I wanted to blow up the city with a kryptonite bomb to get rid of Myriad, before your sister decided to talk about hope and our heads almost explode?" Alex and the others nod, urging him to continue, "Well, I gave that bomb to General Lane, trusting that he would keep it safe, but it seems that yesterday someone else got their hands on it."

To say that Alex punching Lord's teeth out has been expected would be an understatement. Nobody flinches, nobody moves a finger, and Max ends up on the floor, nursing his jaw.

"You gave a fucking kryptonite bomb to someone who hates aliens?!" Alex doesn't realize, she's too enraged, but everybody else can see how the spike on her vitals activates Artemis, "Are you insane?!"

"Stand down, Agent Danvers," J'onn commands with a stern voice, but Alex is stepping dangerously towards Lord, "Alex, stand down!"

Alex freezes.

"Take a deep breath and calm down," He says, this time gentler, "I understand that you are upset, but we need him conscious to explain what happened."

She takes a deep breath, holds the air in her lungs for a second, and then exhales slowly. Artemis disappears quietly and leaves Alex in her normal gear again.

"How did you...?" Winn is staring and pointing at her, puzzled, "That's not possible," He continues babbling, mostly to himself, "I'm sorry, I'm going to... I need to talk to Lena, _now._ "

Without paying too much attention to Winn running off to who knows where, Alex takes a couple of steps towards Max, who's still on the floor nursing his jaw. She extends a hand, and he raises and eyebrow.

"I'm not going to punch you again," She says, with a clearly annoyed tone in her voice, "Although I really, _really,_ want to."

Maxwell takes her hand and Alex pulls to help him on his feet, then he fixes his suit a little, trying to regain some of his dignity.

"Agent Collins, please escort Mr. Lord to the conference room," J'onn instructs the agent, "We'll be there in a minute."

Maxwell nods at the DEO's Director and follows Collins. Alex keeps staring at them, wary of Lord's intentions, until they disappear inside the conference room. Kara, instead, is staring at her sister, and something is clearly worrying her.

"What the hell happened, Alex?!" J'onn demands to know.

"He had it coming, J'onn."

"I know he deserved it, I'm not questioning that. I'm talking about the fact that you activated the suit and could have killed him."

"I... what?"

"Wait, Alex, you didn't realize that Artemis was active?"

"No. It's still on?" She questions, then she raises her hands to stare at them, but she found flesh instead armor, "But... I haven't deactivated..."

"I guess that's why Agent Schott went running to call Miss Luthor," J'onn mentions, "Artemis disappeared the moment you calmed down, and I don't think it was supposed to do that."

"Not that I know."

"Well, given that we don't know why it happened, it will be best if you take the watch off for a while or, at least, while we talk with Mr. Lord," He suggests, "We don't want a repeat of what happened just now."

"You know I don't need the suit to kick his ass again, right?"

J'onn raises his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose and exhales an exasperated sigh.

"Just take off the watch, Alex."

Alex rolls her eyes at him, but unstraps Artemis from her wrist, and hides it in her pocket.

"Happy now?"

The Martian just growls in response.

* * *

Maxwell Lord is sitting uncomfortably on one of the conference room's chairs, watched closely by Agent Collins, who seems a little amused at the heavy bruise that is starting to be noticeable on his jaw, when the others arrive. The moment J'onn enters the room followed by Kara and Alex, Max straightens up, trying to conceal his discomfort and the increasing pain on his face.

"Don't be a pussy, Max," Alex says after noticing how he flinches after touching his own face, "I could have punched some of your teeth out."

"Small favors, I guess."

"Let's talk about the matter at hand, please," J'onn interrupts.

"Of course. Kryptonite bomb," Maxwell stands and takes a drive from his pocket, "Here you have all the schematics."

Alex takes the drive from his hand and puts it in one of the slots on the table. The screen on the room stops showing the D.E.O. logo, and replaces it with a command window showing the files on the drive. She opens the first one, showing the bomb's design with some notes on it.

"The kryptonite is synthetic, of course," Max clarifies.

"After what happened with the red Kryptonite you still tried again?" Asks an outraged Kara.

"I couldn't access any real kryptonite, and I needed it."

"No, you didn't."

"Forgive me for not knowing that your speech about hope could wake up everybody from Myiriad's influence. I needed to be ready."

"Are you sure it has been stolen?" Alex asks, still staring at the schematics on the screen with a concerned look on her face.

"I put a tracker on it," Max says, "An alert went off yesterday. When I noticed that the bomb had been moved I asked General Lane about it, but he didn't know anything about it. It turns out, no one knows who authorized the bomb being moved, and there are no records or any camera footage showing who could have taken it."

"The tracker is still working?"

"Yes. Whoever stole it, still haven't noticed it."

"Do you think Cadmus could have something to do with it?" Kara asks.

"They have the resources and enough connections inside the Government to pull it off, but this could potentially hurt hundreds of civilians, _human_ civilians, and for what? Getting rid of a couple of Kryptonians?"

"J'onn is right. That doesn't seem like Lilian's style," This time is Alex who intervenes, putting some perspective into the situation, "And she would have searched for trackers. She's not that stupid."

"So, options?"

"Maybe someone with a grudge against Superman or me?" Says Kara.

"Like that would shorten the list." Lord scoffs.

"Right now, what we need to do is find that bomb and neutralize the threat. We'll deal later with whoever stole it. Max, you can track it from here, right?" Maxwell nods at Alex's question, "Go find Winn, he's in charge of our satellites," Then she turns towards J'onn and her sister, "We won't tell Clark about this until we have it under control, okay? We don't need another Kryptonian inside the radius of that bomb."

"Got it." Kara says.

"As soon as Lord has it located, Alex and I will go to find it," He senses how Kara is about to protest and stops her, "You won't be near that bomb at all. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir." She pouts.

"I'm going to talk to the Major," He continues, "If that bomb is inside the city, we'll need a plan to evacuate as much people as possible, just in case."

J'onn exits the room then, leaving the sisters alone.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Alex."

"Maxwell's presence makes me itchy, too," The older Danvers jokes, but Kara is staring at her with a frown in her face, "Okay, sorry. I know this is serious, but we've deal with things like this before."

"Not like this. I can't be near that bomb. I won't be able to stop it."

"You won't need to," Alex assures, "You're not the only superhero in this city."

"You know J'onn wouldn't survive that kind of explosion."

Alex knows that what her sister says is true, but she tries not to think about the consequences of that bomb exploding. She reaches into her pocket and takes out the watch. Alex stares at it for a moment, stroking the House of El crest on the back, before she straps it on her wrist.

"Alex? Are you sure?" Kara asks, "If it's not working properly, it could be dangerous. What if the bomb explodes while you are near and Artemis isn't working? We don't even know if it could hold a blast like that!"

"It'll be okay, don't worry." She tries to reassure her sister, even if Alex knows that Kara has enough reasons to be more than worried, "We'll find it in time."

 _But if that bomb goes off, Winn will have a hell of a test for the suit._


	8. Double Trouble

_Notes:_

 _The end is near..._

 _A bit shorter than the other, and as usual, no beta'd._  
 _Enjoy!_

* * *

Alex has tried to reassure her sister that she would be okay wearing the suit but, deep inside, she's nervous. Artemis has acted on its own when she got angry with Maxwell, and Alex hadn't even realized that it was active. That wasn't weird, though. Winn had programmed the suit to react to her body's signals, and Max had managed to make her see red _really_ fast. Actually, what is making her anxious right now and probably giving Winn a headache, is the fact that Artemis retracted itself without the touching command, something that never happened before.

When Winn told her about the suit and how it worked, he explained that the nanobots were programmed to learn from their interactions with the environment, from Alex's body's performance, and adapt in consequence, but judging his reaction, Winn never expected the bots to learn how to deactivate without a direct order.

So, yes, it makes her a little bit anxious that a suit that it's supposed to protect her could disappear any moment during a battle, or worse, turn against her. They already have a bad record with similar technology going awry.

She's pretty sure that's what Winn is discussing with Lena when she arrives at his desk and finds him talking on the phone.

"No, I told you, Lena, it's not the same." He says nervously, "They're not dangerous!"

Alex doesn't want to interrupt, so she stays behind him and just listens.

"I know you're worried, but they're programmed to protect her, that's their main protocol." Winn pauses; probably listening to whatever Lena is saying at the other end of the line, "Yes, I know they can evolve, but not to the level to go against their primary task." He holds the phone between his ear and his shoulder for a second while typing something on one of the computers, "Take a look at the last test's results, okay? As soon as you get here, we'll start working on fixing this."

Having heard enough, Alex clears her throat to catch Winn's attention.

"I'm afraid that might have to wait."

"Alex!" Winn, surprised, drops the phone on the desk.

"Where's Lord?" She asks.

"The main lab," He says, gesturing towards the glass door at the first floor right above them, "I rerouted the access to our satellites to one of the computers there. It shouldn't take long to find the signal."

"Good," She says, barely looking at him, while taking the cell phone out of her back pocket, "I need to call Maggie, but come find me as soon as we've got news on that bomb, okay?" He nods. Alex starts walking towards the exit, but she turns around one more time, "And tell Lena to drop whatever she's doing today. I'm sending a car to pick her up."

* * *

The phone rings three times before Maggie answers, but that's nothing unusual, so she waits patiently.

 _"Hey, babe,_ " Maggie says cheerfully, _"I was going to call you later to see if you wanted to get lunch…"_

"Maggie, I need you at the DEO," Alex says without letting her girlfriend finish the sentence.

 _"Something wrong?"_

"Very wrong, but I can't explain on the phone."

 _"I'll be there in fifteen minutes at most."_

"Could you go pick up Lena at L-Corp on your way?"

 _"Yeah, sure. That bad?"_

"We still don't know, but I'm not taking any chances. Hurry up, okay?"

Before hanging up, Alex hears Maggie say a fast _'kay, love you_ and, somehow, she feels a bit better.

"Was that Maggie?" Kara asks behind her.

"Yeah. I told her to pick up Lena on her way here."

The youngest Danvers frowns, not really understanding why her sister is taking the slower option, when she could fly there and bring them in no time.

"You know I could have them here in less than a minute."

"No." Alex rejects outright. She puts the phone back into her pocket and turns towards Kara, "I don't want you outside of this building until we find that bomb."

"But you can go running around the city wearing an unstable suit?" Kara, obviously upset, crosses her arms and stares at her sister, waiting for an answer, "I heard what Winn said, you know? Even if he tried to tell Lena that Artemis is not dangerous, he's freaking out."

"I won't say that I'm not worried, but I've been doing this job without any kind of superpower for years, Kara," She retorts, "With or without the suit, I'll go out there to stop that bomb from exploding in the middle of National City."

Kara sighs, dropping her arms at her sides in defeat. Alex knows that everyone is worried about her, but there's nothing they can do about it. She needs Artemis right now. If things go wrong and they don't find the artefact in time, and without Kara and Clark out of the game due to the kryptonite threat, the only options they have to get that bomb as far away from the city as possible are J'onn and Artemis.

"I just..." Kara says after a few seconds of silence, "I don't want to go through that again... The feeling of losing you. It was bad enough one time."

Alex takes her sister's hand and squeezes it.

"That won't happen," She says smiling, "I'm too stubborn to die, remember?"

* * *

They still don't have any news from Winn or Lord, so Alex decides that it's time to find out what it's taking them so long.

She walks with Kara in silence until they reach the main lab. When they arrive, Maxwell is sitting in front of one of the computers, the one that Alex usually works in, typing on the keyboard and grunting with frustration. At first, Alex finds comforting the sight of the great genius Maxwell Lord looking distressed and nervous, but then she realizes that seeing him like this is nothing but bad news.

"Max?" She says, cautiously.

"I've got all your damn satellites, and _all_ mine working on it, but the signal keeps disappearing."

"How's that possible?" Kara asks.

"I don't know!"

"Max, you said that the kryptonite is synthetic," Alex, trying to keep her voice steady and calm, steps closer to the computer, "Is it possible that it's getting unstable and affecting the signal?"

"It shouldn't...," He suddenly stops and turns around to look at Alex, "As long as it's contained."

"You don't think..."

"If whoever stole the bomb, opened one, _just one_ of the cylinders containing the kryptonite, it means the safety is deactivated and there's no way to stop it. Sooner or later, it will explode."

J'onn, Winn, and Lucy choose that moment to enter the lab. Seeing the faces of the other three, it's clear that something is very wrong.

"Winn, we need to search for an unstable source of kryptonite," Alex tells him immediately, "The tracker is not working properly."

"On it."

He literally runs to the computer, moving Max aside, and starts working on his algorithm to calibrate again the satellites.

"J'onn," This time, Alex turns to her boss. Both their faces reflect the level of danger this situation is reaching, "We can't deactivate the bomb, and there's no way to know if we'll be able to get it out the city in time. We need to evacuate."

"I'll talk to the Mayor again, but he's reluctant to start a massive evacuation if we don't know for sure where the..."

"Found it!" Winn shouts before J'onn can finish the sentence, "Wait, this can't be right."

Everyone stares at him, but his eyes are locked on the screen.

"Agent Schott?"

He finally turns around, completely pale.

"There are two sources."

"What? What does that mean?" Kara is the first to ask.

"It means that there are two sources of unstable kryptonite inside the city limits."

They all turn to Max now, but Alex is the one who's about to ask before he starts speaking.

"No, there's no way they could have replicated the bomb. Not without my schematics." Max says, answering Alex unspoken question.

"So, one of the sources is a decoy." She states.

"Most likely." Then Max pauses, turning to look at the couple of dots on the screen, "But one of the signals matches the tracker's last location. That's probably the real one."

"I'm not risking the safety of the city on that assumption," J'onn says, "Lucy, I need you to go and talk to the Mayor. We need, at least, to set up a safety perimeter around CatCo Plaza and the City Hall. Agent Schott, I want the exact location of that signal. Not one inch of error." Winn nods and goes to work immediately, "And Alex, it's you and me on this. I'll go to the one where the tracker is, but Kara won't be able to be near any of that kryptonite, so I'll need you to check the second location. You are the only one fast enough to get out of there in case it's not just a decoy."

Alex takes a deep breath and assents. The moment Winn told them about the second signal, she knew this would happen, that it's the only option they really have. Alex feels J'onn's eyes on her and knows, without a doubt, that the Martian can see how worried she is without having to read her mind. But this is her job, her life, and there's no threat in this world that would make her step back into safety when so many people's lives are in danger. J'onn knows that, Kara knows that, and the woman currently stepping through the lab's doorway knows that.

"I don't like the look on your faces," Maggie frowns and stares at her girlfriend, "Especially yours."

Alex is about to explain when Lena interrupts.

"Why are you wearing the watch?" She asks with worry, "You know it's not safe."

"What does she means the watch is not safe?" This time, Maggie steps closer to her girlfriend, demanding an explanation, "Is that why you were so cryptic on the phone?"

"Winn told me the suit was acting weird during the last test," Lena is the one to answer, "Alex, you can't wear it until we know for sure that there's nothing wrong with the bots. "

"That's not an option right now." She says.

J'onn walks towards them and puts a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"We're running out of time."

"I know," Alex nods at him, "Would you give us five minutes?"

"Of course," He nods, and walks towards the door, then turns to gesture at everyone else to follow him, "Come on, people, we have a lot of work to do."

Their friends leave the room quietly, although she catches Lena looking back at her for a second. Alex has seen that look in the CEO's eyes before, but it was always directed at her sister, right before Kara was about to do something stupid and dangerous, so it warms Alex's heart to know that she's important enough to Lena to earn that scolding look directed at her.

"What's going on, Alex?" Maggie questions the moment they are alone, "Why is Lena worried about the suit? And what the hell is Maxwell Lord doing here?"

"There's an unstable kryptonite bomb, maybe two, in the middle of the city," She answers without hesitation. With the years, she has learnt that, in this kind of situation, the best approach is a direct one, "We can't count with Kara on this one, so the only options to get rid of them are J'onn and me."

"Why don't you send an anti-bomb squad? It's their work."

"The containment has been compromised," Alex explains, remembering what Max had said about the safety being removed, "There's no way to stop it. We can only hope to reach it in time to get it out of the city before it blows," She then places her hands on Maggie's face, letting her thumbs absently stroke her cheeks while she rest her forehead against girlfriend's, "We don't have much time but I..."

"I know, babe," Maggie stops her, because anything she could say right now would sound like a goodbye. Then, she leans to leave a soft, tender kiss on Alex's lips, "Now go save the city, and make sure to come back to me in one piece."

With one last kiss, Alex steps back a little and, taking a deep breath activates the suit.


	9. From the ashes

9.

Alex wakes up with the annoying beeping of machines around her, and it feels like a really intense déjà vu.

But a couple of seconds after opening her eyes, she realizes there are a few things that feel different from the last time she awoke in this bed. For instance, her whole body is _buzzing._ Where months ago had been the unbearable pain of a bullet wound, now there's only a warm, fuzzy feeling that she can't really place. It spreads from the top of her head, to the tip of her toes. It's weird, but pleasant, and it makes her forget for a moment that she's in a bed at the DEO's infirmary.

There's only one thing that it's exactly as the last time. A single thought in her mind.

 _Why am I not dead?_

* * *

 _16 hours before_

"Beta Team is in position," Alex says, "The area around CatCo Plaza is secured and I'm approaching the kryptonite signal."

 _"Do you have a visual on the artefact?"_ Winn asks through the comms.

"Not yet. You still got a steady signal?"

 _"It hasn't moved. It should be right in front of you, Alex."_

She looks around for a second, until her eyes spot a sewer cap in the middle of the square. It makes sense.

"Guys, it's underground."

 _"Alpha team in position, too."_ Says J'onn's voice in her ear, _"Alex, don't take unnecessary risks, okay?"_

"Same goes for you, boss," She replies while opening the cap half way and staring at the blackness inside the hole, "I'm going into the sewer now."

Alex lifts the cap completely and discards it to the side. Then she takes a deep breath, puts on the suit's whole helmet, because better safe than sorry, and jumps into the dark. After that, she doesn't have to look for long, because as soon as she turns around, a faint green glow catches her attention.

"Found it."

 _"Give me good news, Alex,"_ J'onn's voice carries a worried tone that she doesn't like at all, " _Because I've got something here that could blow half the city."_

She kneels in front of the bomb to inspect it. The lid has been opened, and there are at least nine cylinders, eight of them glowing kryptonite green.

"I don't think this is a decoy, either." She replies, "Max, one of the cylinders is empty."

" _Damn it!"_ She hears Mawxell exclaim into the comms, " _Alex, whoever did this, used the tracker to trick us. You've got the real bomb. That thing will destroy at least five blocks if it blows there. Can you see if there's a countdown?"_

Alex looks around the whole case of the bomb, until she finds a little number display on the side, but it's not working. Thank god for small favours.

"There's no countdown, but the kryptonite is getting more unstable by the second."

" _Mine isn't activated either."_ Informs J'onn.

"Can we risk taking them out of the city?"

" _My bomb will detonate the moment the kryptonite reaches critical levels,"_ Says Max, " _There's no way to stop it. If you want to move it, you have to do it now."_

" _I'll fly to the east, Alex. You take yours to the west, and run as fast as you can to get out of the blast zone before it goes off, okay?"_

"Roger that." She replies, "Be safe, J'onn."

And then, everything goes to hell.

She hasn't moved the artefact more than a few inches when the timer blinks alive and starts a countdown. A really short countdown.

"Sixty seconds." She mutters to herself.

Alex hears the worried voices of her friends, first rapidly asking what is going on, then shouting, Kara the loudest, asking her to get out of there.

55 seconds.

There's no time to think. She knows that, even if she runs as fast as the suit allows her, the bomb would explode before she could even reach the city limits. So, there's only one plausible option, and that's going up, which means that she'll have to jump really, _really_ high.

48 seconds.

Alex takes the bomb with both arms and jumps out of the sewer with a swiftly move.

44.

She looks up towards the sky and at the skyscraper in front of her. The CatCo building is easily 900 feet tall, if not more, and Alex barely reaches 70 feet with a single jump.

38.

She has to try.

The voices in her ear are now just a distant noise. Alex is not paying attention to them; she doesn't want to pay attention to them. All her attention is focused on the buildings closer to CatCo, looking for a pattern, a way to get closer to the tallest skyscraper's rooftop.

35.

There's not enough time. She can only make six jumps. That means Alex needs to jump two times the high she knows the suit can reach and, even then, CatCo's rooftop will still be out of reach.

 _If only Winn would have worked faster on the flying thing._

29.

The first one is easy. She runs towards the first building and jumps, landing inches away from the roof's ledge, before jumping again, this time landing in the middle of the second building's rooftop. She uses the inertia to keep running and gain momentum for the next leap, and the next, until she's running towards the edge of the last building in front of CatCo.

13.

Alex doesn't want to think about it, doesn't want to question how she's been able to go a little higher with every jump, she just prays to whatever higher being listening to let her do this one last thing.

She takes off one last time, with so much force that the ground under her feet crumbles.

But it's not enough.

10.

She knows it's not enough.

9.

Mid jump, between the two skyscrapers, there's only one more thing she can try.

8.

If she can reach her damn wrist while holding the bomb.

7.

"Yes!"

There's a flash of light, and at the same time that Artemis disappears, Alex suddenly feels airborne.

6.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"What the hell are _you_ doing?!"

5.

"I'm trying to save you!" Kara screams taking the bomb with one arm while she struggles to hold her sister.

"And you'll die!"

4.

"I don't care!"

"Well, I do!"

3.

They're getting slower, and the blast will probably kill her, the kryptonite doing the same to Kara, but at least there's a chance they will save the city.

Swiftly, she removes the watch from her wrist and holds it against the bomb case.

2.

"Throw it!" Alex shouts. Kara understands immediately what she's trying to do and doesn't think about it twice, "Iahzrhi!"

1.

She sees the nanobots surround the bomb before Kara, with her last strength, throws it higher towards the sky.

0.

* * *

Alex sits up in the bed, and turns to the side to let her legs fall over the edge of the mattress. The light in the room is dim, more than usual, but she can make out Maggie's silhouette curled up in the chair at the corner, sleeping.

She moves a hand to tame her tousled hair, while she turns towards the monitor of the machine she's plugged into. The beeping is steady, but too fast to be normal, and the readings are all wrong. With that heart rate she should be experimenting at least a tachycardia, but she feels fine. There's excessive pressure in her chest, or lack of air, or any other of the symptoms that the readings in the monitor would suggest.

What the hell happened after the explosion?

Reaching towards the machine, she turns off the equipment and gets rid of the wires attached to her body. The room goes completely silent for a moment, and that seems to startle Maggie, because she suddenly wakes up.

"Wha..., Alex?" Her voice sound tired, but hopeful. She stands up and approaches the bed slowly, "What are you doing?"

"That machine was making me anxious."

"Yeah, well, you being in a coma _again_ wasn't really comforting, either." Maggie reaches to move away a lock of red hair covering Alex's face, resting then her hand on her girlfriend's cheek and softly caressing it.

"How long I've been out this time?"

"Not long," She says looking at her watch, "Maybe fourteen, fifteen hours."

"And... Kara?" Alex asks with dread in her voice.

"She's okay. She just had to stay under the sun lamps a couple of hours," Alex exhales relieved and Maggie moves to sit in the bed besides her, "Kara told us that you used the suit to cover the bomb right before it exploded. Winn thinks that the bots might have absorbed the radiation from the kryptonite, saving your sister's life," She then takes Alex hand, interlocking their fingers, "Which still doesn't explain how _you_ survived. The blast wasn't as powerful as it could have been, but still made a lot of damage, and you weren't wearing Artemis."

"The last thing I remember is the explosion, and then waking up here."

"You were in bad shape, Alex. Really bad shape."

"What do you mean?" She frowns, diverting her attention from Maggie to her own body, looking for any sign of injuries. When she doesn't found anything, Alex looks at her girlfriend again, confused, "But I feel... fine?"

"It would have been much worse if J'onn didn't catch you on time, but babe, you got burns all over your body."

 _What?!_

"But..."

"Nobody here understands. Not the doctors, not J'onn or Kara... And when they tried to plug you to the machines to scan you, everything started crashing down, and then..." Maggie stops talking for a second, maybe trying to gather her thoughts, "Then you started healing, like really fast, and..." She sighs, "Winn has a theory, but it's kind of crazy."

"At this point, I think we can accept crazy as a valid option."

Alex hears steps outside the room, and she turns towards the door, frowning. She's always have good hearing, but not that good. Not without...

"What?" Maggie asks.

"I thought I heard..."

A couple of seconds later, the door is opening, and J'onn, Winn and Lucy step in.

"Alex!" Winn shouts, and quickly goes around the bed to hug her, "Oh my god, sorry!" He says letting go of her friend, "Did I hurt you?"

"I'm okay," Alex replies with a smile.

"Yes, let's talk about that," Lucy approaches them and puts a hand on Alex's shoulder, squeezing lightly, "Because as glad as we are that you are okay, we're still wondering how is that possible."

Alex is going to answer that she's as puzzled as all of them, but then she realizes something. Looking around, there's someone missing. If Kara is okay, why isn't she here with them?

"Wait, where's my sister?"

"General Lane found out who stole the bomb. Kara and James went with one of his teams to find them."

"Who?"

"Apparently, before the Red Tornado fiasco, Professor Morrow had a couple of advanced students helping him with some of his projects," J'onn explains, "One of them was still working at the facility were the bomb was."

"Brilliant students, if I may say," Alex stares at the door where Maxwell is standing, and glares at him, "Such a shame that they seem to be as crazy as their mentor. Alex...," He smiles with unusual sincerity, "I'm really glad that you are okay."

* * *

Almost an hour later, Alex is changing into her uniform when Vasquez comes into the room to inform her that Kara will be back soon.

She has been standing at the bed side for a while, only half dressed, holding her shirt with one hand and touching the exposed skin with the other, trying to figure out why there wasn't a single scar in her body, not even the ones that had been there before the explosion.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?" She hears Susan voice at the door, successfully getting Alex out of her thoughts, "I mean, people is wondering _how_ , but we don't really care as long as you are still here."

"Yeah, I guess." She replies.

But Alex can't stop thinking about it. She knows that her body is trying to tell her something, that the weird feeling in her stomach has something to do with it. The odd thing is... that feeling? That buzzing that hasn't stopped since she woke up? It's not the first time that she feels like that.

"Well, Supergirl called," Vasquez continues, "They got the bombers. She's on her way back."

Finally, good news.

"Thank you, Susan," She smiles at the agent, "I'll be there in a moment."

Vasquez nods and leaves Alex alone again.

She gives a last look at the shirt in her hand before putting it on. She'll have more time to think later.

* * *

"YOU HAVE TO STOP DYING ON ME!"

Kara hasn't even touched the floor when she's already throwing two beaten up men at the feet of the D.E.O. agents, and pointing an accusatory finger at her sister. Everyone around them just take a step backwards to let Agent Danvers deal with Supergirl.

"Like you are much better," Alex retorts.

"I'm an alien! With superpowers! You threw away the only thing that could protect you from that explosion!"

"Technically, _you_ threw it away."

"Stop being a smartass," Once she's within reach, Kara throws her arms around her sister, "Seriously, if I have to lock you up to prevent from this happening again, I will do it. I promise."

Alex simply snorts at that and squeezes her sister harder, just happy to still be able to do it.

"Hm... Alex?" Kara says, sounding a bit weird.

"Yeah?"

"Not that I don't like you holding me, but... could you, maybe, stop crushing my ribs?"

Alex, abruptly, moves away from her sister, and stares confused at her.

"Are you still hurt?" She asks, trying to understand, "But Maggie said that you were okay…"

"And _I am._ It's you whom is clearly stronger than usual. I mean, you've been always stronger than the average human, but without the suit…" She then pauses to look at their group of friends, "Can someone please explain what is happening here? Because I'm starting to have a headache."

Winn quietly raises his hand, but before he can start speaking, Alex shakes her head, gesturing him to shut up.

"Why don't we wait until James comes back?" She suggests, "We can talk after we've handed Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over to General Lane."

* * *

Alex decided that it was better to let J'onn and Lucy deal with the General. She wasn't in the mood, and definitely not one hundred percent that nothing would happen if she had the two men responsible for almost killing her and Kara in front of her again. She had been too distracted with her sister being alive the first time to even pay attention to them. Who know what could happen now that she's had time to adjust.

So, now she's sitting alone in the conference room, waiting for the others to join her. Alex has even called Lena, because she wants everyone to be there when she explains what it's going on. Or, at least, what she thinks it's going on.

She's staring at her hands in silence, feeling how that tingling sensation in her body becomes something else, something tangible, something that, if it's true, has her excited and terrified at the same time.

"Hey," She hears Kara say, standing at the door, "Everyone is here."

"Okay."

One by one, all her friends come into the room and sit around the table. James and Kara have changed into normal clothes, and are looking a bit more relaxed than before. Maggie, who had to go for a while to the precinct, has come back just a couple o minutes ago and is the last one to enter, walking straight towards Alex and taking her hand.

"Everyone's here."

"Mhm," Alex nods, and feels how her girlfriend squeezes her hand encouragingly, while she sits at the edge of the table, "So... I guess all of you might be wondering what happened when the bomb exploded, and why I'm standing here as if nothing happened." She says.

Everyone nods, waiting for her to continue.

"Winn, Maggie told me that you had a crazy theory about it?"

"Not _that_ crazy," He replies.

Alex makes a gesture for him to continue.

"Okay... You all know that the suit's bots were part synthetic, part alive tissue? Like, they had Alex's DNA and could heal some of her wounds in case she was injured, right? But, because she activated the suit in the testing mode to cover the bomb, the watch was destroyed, and with it the main bots."

"Then, why is Alex standing in front of us without a single scratch on her body?" Asks J'onn, crossing her arms and waiting for a plausible explanation.

"I think... Well, _we_ think," She says, gesturing towards Lena, "That whatever it is, it was happening before the bombs."

"That's why I was so worried when Winn told me that you had deactivated the suit without the command," Lena takes part in the conversation, recalling how, the day before, Artemis had activated and then disappeared without Alex even realizing, "Because we designed the bots to learn and evolve from the suit's performance, it's possible that they developed some kind of symbiotic connection with Alex. Even if they were outside her body, the bots were still connected to her in a very intimate level. After... Jack, I was afraid that the same could happen to her. That they could change Alex, somehow."

"But Jack injected the nanobots directly into his bloodstream," Kara comments, frowning, "Artemis' bots were in the watch, right?

"Until the watch was destroyed with the bomb," Alex states.

"And here comes the crazy part..." Win continues, this time too excited to keep sitting, "What if something happened in that explosion? What if, with the bots absorbing the kryptonite's radiation, the watch being destroyed, and Alex's body covered in burned flesh, what if all of that combined, created a singularity, the perfect moment for Artemis to evolve."

Everyone stays silent, because what Winn just exposed is the craziest theory that they've ever heard coming from his mouth but, at the same time, the only thing that could make sense.

"I was the perfect host." Alex finally says.

He nods.

"They needed a container. You needed to survive."

The first one to talk is Kara, who walks towards her sister with a concerned look.

"But you are still... you?"

Ales just smiles.

"Yeah. Still me."

"Improved you," Winn adds, "Have you noticed...?"

"I feel them," Alex says, "I've felt them before, while wearing the suit, like a distant white noise. But since I woke up, it's like a constant buzzing, like every single cell in my body is filled with so much energy that I could even..."

Alex stops talking altogether, and letting go of Maggie, she stares at both her hands for a moment, Then, without giving the others any time to react, bolts outside the room, jumps into to the main control room, and starts running towards the balcony.

She has to stop, though, when Kara jumps in front of her.

"Alex, what are you doing?"

"Testing."

"What?" Kara asks confused.

But Alex doesn't answer. She just takes a couple of steps backwards and smirks playfully.

"Hey, sis, try to catch me."

And then, in a blink of an eye, Artemis is reborn and bolting towards the sky.

"OH MY GOD!"

Everyone turns to stare at a teary eyed Winn, with her arms raised and pointing towards the balcony.

"My baby flies!"

The End.


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue.

Cat Grant has never been one to be easily impressed, Kara would know.

But in the same way that the first time the younger Danvers stomped into her life she knew that the young woman was more than she showed to the others, the second she met Agent Scully Cat saw more than the suit and the badge. She saw an exceptional woman, fierce and resolute, professional, hard-worker, and so devoted to her duty that the CEO had the urge to steal the agent away and put her on display at CatCo, as an example to her useless employees.

As time passed, and Cat was more certain that her assistant was National City's resident superhero, the presence of Alex Danvers in everything where Supergirl was involved, made more and more sense.

Cat Grant knows a good story when she sees one, and she was dying to sink her teeth into this one in particular.

She was intrigued, mostly by the weird combo that the Danvers sisters were together, one being pure rainbow and sunshine, and the other an unpredictable storm. They might have been a handful as teenagers. She couldn't get as close as she would had liked to unveil the mystery that was Alex Danvers, so Cat started gathering little pieces here and there to try and solve that puzzle.

It wasn't until the Myriad incident, when she witnessed the sister's dynamic during a crisis, that Cat realized how vital Alex Danvers had been in the making of Supergirl, not only the caped, colourful version, but also the everyday, plain looking, and glasses wearing human one.

It was a shame that Cat had already made plans to leave National City for a while, or she would have invested herself on a quest to unveil the mysteries of the agent behind the superhero.

The last thing she would have expected during her retreat was seeing Alex Danvers in a supersuit, a rather extraordinary one, fighting monsters and saving a school bus full of kids with her bare hands.

Of course she was going to go back to CatCo and write about her after that.

" _Miss Grant, Agent Danvers is here_." Her assistant announces.

"Tell her to come in."

Alex walks into her office with a wary demeanour, wearing casual clothes instead the usual pantsuit she wears while on duty as an FBI agent, and taking a quick glance at the office, as if she was searching for any threats.

"Excellent," Cat welcomes her with a satisfied grin, "I see your new job doesn't affect your ability to show up on time to an appointment. I'll try to make this quick in case you have to leave to attend other _matters_."

"Why am I here, Miss Grant?"

Straight to business. That's one of the traits she's always liked about the agent.

"Very well," Cat stands up and rounds her table, to lean at the edge of it, right in front of Alex, "As you well know, CatCo took upon itself to be the platform that would show Supergirl to the world, even if that girl is a PR nightmare sometimes."

"Well, no one forced you to do that."

"Someone would have done it, eventually. Better us than the Planet."

"Is there any point to this conversation?"

"Yes," Cat answers, "As I was saying, we gave Supergirl to the world so, as it was expected, the world turned to us when they wanted to know more about their hero, but also to act as an intermediary for those who want to send her something."

"I know. Kids send her drawings all the time. It's kind of adorable to see her opening all those letters."

"Well," Cat turns around and grabs the binder on her desk, then turns to Alex again and hands it over to her, "Now you two can do that together."

"What's this?" The agent asks confused.

"Just a sample from the five boxes of mail addressed to Lady Artemis that CatCo has received since you first started going around in that suit. I'm also going to need an email address to send all the digital ones."

Alex seems speechless for a moment, staring bewildered at the binder in her hands.

"I've got fan mail?"

"People love Lady Artemis, agent Scully. She might be more distant than Supergirl, a bit darker, but she still makes them feel safe, protected. We all know that this city has its share of heroes and vigilantes, but only two of them wear that S on their chest, and even if yours is less _flashy_ , it's still the same symbol that gives them hope when things go awry. All that mail is just a consequence of your acts, a thank you for being there."

"I'm just doing my job," Alex says, "With or without the suit; it has always been my job."

"And I always thought that you were highly unappreciated for that. But, things have changed, and now people know about it. Just learn to accept their gratitude," Cat moves away from the desk and steps into Alex's personal space, pointing a finger at her, "You'll also have to accept their judgement, because that goes hand in hand with having a public profile. Of course, I expect you to be better than your sister at all this. I've only got time to handle the incompetence of one Danvers at a time."

"Don't worry. I won't be flying into your balcony every time I have an existential crisis. I've got a bottle of Scotch at home for that."

"Great," Cat turns around and goes back to behind her desk, sitting again in her comfortable chair, and clearly getting into business mode, "Now that we've got all that cleared up, let's talk about CatCo's Magazine's next issue."

Alex frowns at that.

"I was thinking we could do photo shoot with Supergirl and Artemis together. Maybe a mid shot or a medium close up for the front page? People should be able to see the crest on your suit alongside Supergirl's. You should also answer a few questions. We'll be careful not to reveal too much, obviously, but people is dying to know more about Artemis." Then Cat just leans back on her chair, sporting a smug grin in her face, "Lois is going to love it."

The End (now for real)


End file.
